Jackie  /T\aking 


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Jo[\x\  iiarnT|gtor]  r^mp 


UNIVERSITY    Of 
CAUFORNiA 


THE    BOY'S   OWN    GUIDEy<LC/Vv 

TO 

FISHING 

TACKLE-MAKING  AND  FlSH-BREEDING 


BEING  A   PLAIN,    PRECISE    AND    PRACTICAL    EXPLANATION 

OF  ALL  THAT   IS   NECESSARY  TO  BE  KNOWN 

BY  THE  YOUNG  ANGLER 


BY 

JOHN  HARRINGTON  KEENE 

AUTHOR   OF    "the    PRACTICAL    FISHERMAN"  "  FLY-FISHING   AND   FLY-MAKING " 
"  FISHING-TACKLE    ITS   MATERIALS   AND   MANUFACTURE  "   ETC. 


Illustrated  by  82  diagrams  drawn  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  the  author  by  Lewis  E.  Shanks 


LEE  AND  SHEPARD  PUBLISHERS 

10      MILK      STREET 

BOSTON 


Copyright,  1894,  by  Lee  and  Shepard 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Boy's  Own  Guide  to  Fishing 


ELECTBOTYriNG  BY  C.  J.  PKTEES  &  SON,  BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


Tbkss  ok  S.  J.  Parkuill  &  Co, 


A=<to 


PREFACE 


Fishing  is  a  sport  especially  suited  to  boys. 
It  is  a  cleanly,  healthy,  open-air  recreation,  de- 
void of  feverish  excitements,  and  yet  not  desti- 
tute of  quiet  pleasures  which  are  inexpressibly 
fascinating  during  the  tender  years  of  childhood, 
and,  above  all,  entirely  innocent  in  their  ten- 
dencies. As  youth  succeeds  childhood,  the  love 
of  fishing  deepens,  and  as  maturity  is  attained, 
this  love  becomes  a  part  of  the  man,  never  to 
be  wholly  cast  aside.  And  as  old  age  approaches, 
and  gun  and  dog  and  saddle  are  regretfully  re- 
tired, angling  still  remains  the  contemplative 
man's  pastime.  Thus  throughout  life  is  angling 
a  source  of  comfort  and  pleasure,  leaving  no  bad 
taste  in  the  mouth  or  sting  in  the  conscience, 
and  being  indeed  unequalled  by  any  other  sport 
whatsoever  in  its  purity  and  guilelessness.  For 
what  does  Annie  Trumbull  Slosson's  "  Fishin' 
Jimmy  "  say  in  his  quaint,  homely  fashion  ?     "  I 

3 

ivi844832 


4  PREFACE 

allers  loved  fishin',  an'  know'd  'twas  the  best 
thing  in  the  hull  airth.  I  knows  it  larnt  ye 
more  about  creeters  an'  yarbs  an'  stuns  an'  water 
than  books  could  tell  ye.  I  know'd  it  made  folks 
patienter  and  common-senser  an''  weather-wiser 
an'  cuter  gen'ally ;  gin  'em  more  fac'lty  than  all 
the  school  larnin'  in  creation.  I  knowed  it  was 
more  fiUin'  than  vittles,  more  rousin'  than  whiskey, 
more  soothin'  than  lodlum.  I  knowed  it  cooled 
ye  off  when  ye  was  het,  an'  het  ye  when  ye  was 
cold.  I  knowed  all  that,  o'  course,  —  any  fool 
knows  it.  But  will  ye  bleve  it }  I  was  more'n 
twenty-one  years  old,  a  man  growed,  'fore  I  foun' 
out  why  'twas  that  way." 

The  object  of  this  little  book  is  to  explain  to 
even  the  youngest  reader  what  "  Fishin'  Jimmy  " 
did  not  find  out  till  he  was  "a  man  growed." 

I  have  never  had  cause  to  regret  that  my  own 
ancestors  were  professional  fishermen,  and  that  I 
have  been  one  myself.  My  father,  his  father,  and 
his  father,  and  so  on  for  several  more  generations, 
were  watermen  and  fishermen  on  the  English 
Thames.  I  cannot  recollect,  therefore,  when  I 
first  became  an  angler ;  but  like  Topsy,  "  I  specs 
I  grow'd  "  to  be  one  from  the  cradle.     Self-help 


PREFACE  5 

in  all  pertaining  to  fishing  was,  however,  the 
lesson  drilled  into  me  from  my  earliest  years, 
and  at  an  infant's  age  I  first  began  to  handle 
tackle  and  tackle-making  implements.  From  ex- 
perietice^  therefore,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  boy 
who  learns  to  prepare  everything  he  uses  will 
(as  I  have  done)  derive  tenfold  the  pleasure  from 
fishing,  that  is  gotten  by  the  angler  who  only 
buys  his  tackle  all  ready  to  his  hand.  The  things 
that  cost  pains  to  procure  are  the  most  valued. 
In  the  following  pages  I  shall  explain  the  why 
and  wherefore  of  everything  likely  to  perplex  the 
tyro,  as  well  as  the  making  of  each  piece  of 
tackling,  giving  the  methods  I  have  myself  made 
use  of,  with  suitable  diagrams.  Moreover,  I  shall 
be  pleased  at  any  time  to  aid  my  boy-readers  by 
letter,  if  they  write  me  to  my  address  below. 

J.  Harrington  Keene. 

Greenwich,  Washington  County,  N.Y. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/boysownguidetofiOOkeenricli 


CONTENTS 


PART  L  — SPRING. 

CHAPTER   I.  PAGE 

Sucker  Fishing ii 

CHAPTER   H. 
Pickerel  Trolling  in  Spring 36 

CHAPTER   HI. 
Bait-fishing  for  Trout 50 

PART  IL  — SUMMER. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Fishing  for  the  Sun-fish  and  other  "Boys'  Fishes,"       71 

CHAPTER  V. 
Fly-fishing  for  Trout,  and  Fly-making 79 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Fly-fishing  for  Bass,  Perch,  Sun-fish,  etc.      .     .     .     120 

PART  III.  — AUTUMN. 

CHAPTER   VII. 
Minnow-fishing  for  Trout 139 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Bass  Fishing  with  the  Minnow,  etc 146 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

PART  IV.— WINTER. 

CHAPTER    IX.  PAGE 

Fishing  through  the  Ice i6i 

CHAPTER  X. 
Breeding  Trout,  etc.,  in  Winter 170 


\ 


PART   I 


SPRING  ANGLING 


THE 

BOY'S  OWN  GUICE  TO  FISHING 


CHAPTER    I 

SUCKER   FISHING 

The  earliest  fish  in  the  spring  of  the  year  to 
take  the  bait  of  the  angler,  are  the  trout  and  the 
common  brook  sucker  {Catostomiis  comniersoni),  and 
the  whole  family,  indeed,  of  this  latter  fish ;  for 
there  are  a  dozen  or  more  different  kinds  of  suck- 
ers. If  I  were  writing  for  the  advanced  fisherman, 
I  should  begin  with  the  trout  ;  for,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  head  of  the  family  of  fishes  to  which 
the  trout  belongs,  namely,  the  salmon,  there  is  no 
fish  pursued  by  the  angler  requiring  so  much  care 
and  prudent  method  for  catching.  As,  however, 
this  is  a  book  for  boys,  and  as  the  sucker  is,  above 
all,  a  boy's  fish,  and  does  not  require  great  refine- 
ment in  tackle  to  catch,  I  shall  speak  at  length  on 
it,  with  the  intent  that  what  I  shall  say  will  be  use- 
ful also  in  the  capture  of  other  more  difficult  fish. 


12  SPRING  ANGLING 

There  are,  as  I  have  hinted,  a  dozen  or  more 
species  of  the  sucker  in  American  waters ;  but  the 
brook  sucker  is  the  one  most  generally  known  to 
boys,  and  the  ways  of  its  capture  are  suitable  for 
all  the  others.  Now,  the  sucker  is  an  early  spring 
spawner  ;  that  is,  it  begins  to  seek  the  brooks  and 
shallow  inlets  of  a  river  or  lake  to  deposit  its  eggs 
just  as  soon  as  the  ice  begins  to  go  out.  It  gener- 
ally also  herds  or  goes  in  shoals  ;  and  it  is  at  this 
time,  whilst  the  water  is  still  very  cold,  that  the 
sucker  takes  the  baited  hook  most  freely,  though 
it  can  be  caught  all  the  year  till  the  winter  ice 
and  snow  shut  up  the  water.  Ordinarily  the  fish  is 
snared  with  a  wire  or  horsehair  collar,  or  speared,  or 
even  netted,  being  thought  of  little  worth  as  a  food 
or  sport  fish  ;  but  I  do  not  approve  of  the  slaying  of 
any  fish  thus  unfairly  when  it  is  capable  of  giving 
pleasure  in  its  pursuit  and  capture ;  and,  therefore, 
the  way  to  fish  for  sucker  with  hook  and  line  is  the 
only  method  that  I  shall  describe  in  these  pages. 

It  is  seasonable  to  fish  for  suckers  before  the 
legal  season  in  some  States  opens  for  trout,  and 
even  before  the  leaves  begin  to  appear  on  the 
trees.  It  is  not  necessary  to  use  fine  tackle ; 
but,  of  course,  if  you  happen  to  have  a  nice  rod 


SUCKER  FISHING  1 3 

and  reel,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be 
used.  Rods  of  really  good  quality  can  be  bought 
for  such  a  trifle,  that  most  boys  will  coax  a  rela- 
tive to  make  them  a  present  of  one,  if  they  can- 
not earn  the  money  themselves.  However,  as 
self-help  is  one  of  the  chief  charms  I  have  found 
in  fishing,  I  shall  tell  you  how  to  equip  yourself 
for  sucker  fishing  at  only  a  few  cents'  cost. 

The  ordinary  canes  that  one  can  buy  at  the 
hardware  store  for  a  few  cents  make  a  capital 
sucker  rod  (or  even  trolling  rod  for  pickerel)  ; 
but  if  this  is  beyond  your  means,  go  into  the 
nearest  waterside  copse,  and  cut  one  of  the 
straightest  poles  you  can  find.  Do  this  very 
early  in  the  season,  so  that  you  can  trim  it  of 
all  the  branches,  and  set  it  upright  to  dry  for  a 
little  time  in  the  barn.  It  may  be  straightened 
at  any  specially  crooked  parts  by  heating  it  over 
the  kitchen  stove  till  quite  hot,  then  suspending 
it  from  a  rafter  with  a  weight  —  several  flatirons 
will  do  —  to  the  but,  or  large  end.  In  a  week 
you  will  be  surprised  at  the  improvement  in  its 
appearance.  If  you  want  to  make  it  still  more 
useful  and  neat,  go  to  work  as  follows :  sand- 
paper off  the  knots  and  other  irregularities,  and. 


14 


SPRING   ANGLING 


without  attempting  to  remove  the  bark,  apply 
with  a  pad  several  coats  of  shellac  varnish, 
thinned  very  thin  with  alcohol.  The  pad  is  made 
as  follows  :  take  a  piece  of  old  cotton  stocking 
and  wrap  it  round  a  ball  of  batting,  making  two 
or  three  thicknesses  of  the  stocking.  Have  a 
wide-mouthed  bottle,  and  place  in  it  one  ounce 
of  shellac,  filling  up  with  six  ounces  of  alcohol, 
or  even  more,  to  render  it  a  very  thin  varnish  or 
polish.  When  you  have  laid  on  five  or  six  coats,  — 
drying  each  one  before  putting  on  another,  of 
course,  —  the  polish  on  your  "  pole "  will  be  of 
comparatively  elegant  appearance. 


Fig.   1 .— Home-made  Winder  for  Pole. 

Of  course,  when  the  pole  assumes  this  high- 
toned  appearance,  you  will  require  a  winder  for 
your  line.  The  easiest  to  make  is  shown  at  Fig.  i. 
It  consists  of  a  forked  branch,  trimmed,  and 
with  a  notch  cut  in  the  end  of  each  leg  to  hold 


SUCKER  FISHING 


15 


the  line.  To  attach  it  to  the  rod,  you  place  a 
square  piece  of  wood  or  cork  underneath  the 
lower  end,  and  securely  whip  or  tie  it  to  the 
rod-end,  as  shown.  The  line  is  wound  in  and 
out  in  the  outline  of  a  figure  8  round  the  two 
legs  of  the  fork,  and  stayed  at  one  of  the  splits 
in  the  ends.  Of  course,  if  it  is  stayed  lightly, 
any  fish  requiring  loose  line  can  run  off  the  line 
"at  will ;  though  the  latter  cannot  be  wound  on 
again  by  turning  a  handle,  as  in  the  device  that 
follows,  or  in  the  ordinary  brass  or  wooden  reel 
sold  at  the  tackle  stores. 


^ 


Fig.  2. 
Spool  with  Wire  Handle. 

A  better  line-winder,  or  in  this  case  reel,  can  be 
easily  made  by  any  boy  out  of  a  large  thread 
spool.  In  the  first  place,  he  must  get  a  length  of 
moderately  thick  brass  or  soft  iron  wire  to  form 
his  handle.     This  must   be  bent    (Fig.   2)   in  the 


i6 


SPRING  ANGLING 


proper  form,  and  passed  right  through  the  spool, 
so  that  about  a  quarter-inch  projects  on  the  other 
side.  Then  it  must  be  plugged  or  wedged  in  so 
that  it  cannot  move ;  and  you  have  one  part  of  the 
reel  ready.  Now  go  to  the  tin-shop  and  get  a 
piece  of  tin,  or  copper,  or  brass,  or  even  sheet-iron, 
cut  in  the  shape  indicated  at  Fig.  3  ;  but  be  sure  it 


O 

o  o 

O 


Fig.  3.  —  Metal  Sides  for  Reel  before  shaping. 

is  of  the  proper  size  to  fit  your  spool  when  it  is 
folded  at  the  dotted  lines  of  Fig.  3  and  turned  up 
as  in  Fig.  4.  Bore  holes  in  each  end  of  the  cross  ; 
place  your  spool  in  between  the  uprights  ;  screw 


SUCKER  FISHING  1 7 

the  reel  on  to  the  rod,  and  you  have  quite  a  sightly 
device,  as  shown  at  Fig.  5  (p.  1 8)  ;  and  it  will  serve 


\ 


Fig.  4.  —  Metal  Support  for  Reel. 

your  purpose  for  sucker,  or  even  brook-trout  worm- 
fishing  on  an  emergency,  as  well  as  a  five-dollar 
automatic  reel  (to  which  you  will  be  introduced 
later  on  in  this  work). 

You  have  now  the  rod  and  reel  ready  for  work  ; 
but  there  is  something  else  to  be  done  to  the  rod 
before  the  two  will  work.  I  refer  to  the  placing 
of  guides,  or  rings,  through  which  the  line  is  to 
pass.  On  a  ten-foot  pole  there  should  be  a  large 
one  nearest  the  reel  of  not  less  than  half  an  inch 
in  diameter  ;  this  may  be  placed  one  foot  from  the 
reel.  The  next  three  should  be  placed  at  equal 
distances  on  the  pole,  and  for  the  tip  a  ring  of  not 
less   than  |  of    an   inch  inside  diameter  is    best. 


i8 


SPRING  ANGLING 


Fig.  5.  ^Home-made  Spool  Reel. 


SUCKER  FJSHIN-G  1 9 

Now  how  to  make  them.  Get  some  medium 
gauge  wire  —  brass  is  best,  and  the  gauge  should 
be  that  of  ordinary  bell-wire  ;  take  a  round  stick 
the  diameter  you  require,  and  make  one  turn  round 
it  with  the  wire  ;  then  draw  the  wire  out  as  if  yoiu 
wished  to  straighten  it,  until  the  ring  is  like  a 
snake  (Fig.  6)  ;  cut  off,  and  flatten  the  ends  with  a 


Fig.  6.  —  Snake  Guide. 

hammer,  or  by  filing.  Thus  you  have  one  of  the 
best  guides  (in  principle)  it  is  possible  to  use.  I 
use  no  other  even  on  my  best  rods  ;  for  it  is  im- 
possible to  get  the  line  snarled  round  it,  and  there  is 
the  minimum  of  friction  to  retard  its  free  running. 
Of  course  the  nearer  you  get  to  the  top  of  the  rod 
the  smaller  should  be  the  ring,  though  this  is  not 
a  matter  of  the  first  importance.  The  tip  ring 
is  made  as  shown  (Fig.  7),  <==== 
and  the  two  legs  are  whipped 


closely  on  the  rod.         An  easy       F,g_  7.  _  Home-made  Tip  Ring. 

/p^^  rod  guide,  but  not  so  good  a  one  as 

\j^--;y  that  just  described,  is  formed  of  the 

'''^'  GuVfe^'^^"'       kittle  screw  picture-frame  eyelets  sold 

in  the  hardware  stores   (Fig.  8).     These  may  be 


20  SPRING  ANGLING 

screwed  into  the  pole  if  the  wood  is  hard  ;  but  there 
is  always  a  wea^  spot  where  they  are  screwed.  I 
prefer  at  all  times  the  wire  guides. 

The  whipping  or  binding  of  the  rings  requires  a 
word  of  explanation.  Fig.  9  shows  one  of  them 
as  it  appears  bound  on  to  a  pole.  Go  to  your 
shoemaker,  and  ask  him  for  a  piece  of  his  wax 
with  which  he  waxes  his  shoe-thread,  and  get 
some  shoe-thread  too,  or  use  the  spool-thread. 
Wax  it  well,  and  bind  on  your  rings  evenly,  as 
shown,  securing  the  whipping  or  binding  by 
means  of  two  half-hitches  (Fig.  9),  for  I  will  not 


Fig.  9.  —Showing  Double-hitch 
Fastening. 


now  introduce  you  to  the  invisible  knot ;  that  will 
come  later.  Now  apply  some  of  your  shellac 
varnish  (with  which  you  varnished  your  rod) ;  and 
if  you  have  been  careful  and  neat,  you  have  a  ser- 
viceable sucker,  or  bullhead,  or  "pumpkin-seed" 
rod,  just  as  capable  of  catching  these  fish  as  a 
more  expensive  outfit. 

The  kind  of  line  you  will  use  will  depend  on 


SUCKER  FISHING  21 

your  financial  resources,  for  you  cannot  make  that 
at  this  stage  of  your  anghng  ecki cation.  A  good 
Hnen  line  may  be  bought  cheap,  and  for  rough 
usage  it  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  fine  silk  lines 
costing  even  as  high  as  five  cents  per  yard.  The 
trouble  is  that  the  linen  soon  soaks  up  water,  and 
gets  thick  and  "  logy."  This,  however,  may  be 
remedied  in  this  wise.  Wind  your  line  on  a  card, 
not  too  tightly.  Then  get  an  old  tomato  can  or 
other  receptacle,  next  some  old  wax-candle  ends 
(the  paraffine  wax  is  best),  and,  after  cutting  out 
the  pieces  of  cotton-wick,  place  them  in  the  can. 
Put  it  on  the  stove  until  the  wax  is  quite  melted, 
but  do  not  get  it  too  hot,  or  it  will  burn  your  line. 
Now  immerse  the  line,  and  keep  it  in  the  solution 
till  thoroughly  impregnated.  When  you  think 
this  is  accomplished  (and  it  takes  several  hours, 
according  to  the  thickness  of  the  line),  find  the 
end  of  the  line,  still  keeping  it  in  the  warm  solu- 
tion, and  have  a  companion  gently  walk  back  with 
it,  whilst  you  pass  it  through  your  closed  finger 
and  thumb,  to  press  off  the  superfluous  wax. 
This  should  be  done  in  a  warm  room,  or  near  the 
stove,  because  the  wax  cools  very  rapidly.  Hav- 
ing come  to  the  end  of  ^your  line,  stretch  it ,  be- 


21  .  SPRING   ANGLING 

tween  two  nails,  and  go  over  it  again  with  a  piece 
of  chamois  leather,  rubbing  hard  to  engender  a 
little  heat,  and  so  render  the  line  smooth.  This 
dressing  may  be  renewed  as  it  seems  to  wear  off, 
and  it  will  always  be  found  satisfactory  for  the 
fishing  we  are  considering. 

We  now  have  arrived  at  the  hook.  One  three- 
eighths  of  an  inch  across  the  bend  is  quite  large 
enough  for  the  largest  fish.  When  the  fish  are 
plentiful  and  biting  freely  you  need  not  trouble 
about  snells,  but  can  use  the  eyed  or  ringed  hooks. 


c 


Fig.   10.  —  Eyed-hook,  with  Method  of  tying. 

These  are  best  tied  as  shown  (Fig.  lo).  Of  course 
the  knot  there  shown  is  to  be  drawn  tight.  But  in 
clear  water,  and  indeed  generally,  the  snelled  hook 
is  to  be  preferred.  If  you  want  to  do  the  exactly 
right  thing,  send  to  a  tackle  dealer  and  get  a 
"hank"  of  gut,  —  which  is  silk  from  the  silk- 
worm, taken  away  before  the  worm  spins  it,  —  and 
soak  it  in  water.  This  renders  it  pliable,  so  that 
you  can  tie  a  loop  at  one  end  like  either  of  the 


SUCKER  FISHING  23 

two  loops  shown  (Figs.  11  and  12).     To  the  other 


Fig.  11. 

Loop  for  Gut  {the  "figure  8  "). 


end  the  hook  is  whipped,  using  spool  silk,  waxed 


Fig.  12. 
Loop  for  Gut  (the  "Alpine  "). 

with  the  shoemaker's  wax  aforesaid,  or  with  a  wax 
composed  of :  — 

Best  resin,  2  ounces ;    Beeswax,  }^  ounce. 
Simmer  together  ten  minutes,  and  add  :  — 

Beef  tallow,        3^4  ounce. 
Simmer  all  together  fifteen  minutes  more,  and  pour 
into  a  basin  of  cold  water,  and  pull  like  candy  till 
cold  and  very  white. 

The  whipping  or  binding  of  the  hook  is  very 


liiinnEDiBiinnnniiiiniiEt 

Fig.  13. — Hooh  whipped,  and  showing   "Invisible  Knot." 

evenly  wound,  and  secured  by  means  of 
the  two  half-hitches  (Fig.  9),  or  the  invisible  knot 
shown  at  Fig.  13.  Of  course  the  coils  in  the 
diagram   are  pulled  tight,  and  the  thread  drawn 


24  SPRING  ANGLING 

through  also  as  tightly  as  possible  without  break- 
ing the  thread.     This  knot  needs  practising. 

Three  strands  of  horse-hair,  preferably  from  a 
gray  stallion's  tail,  will  form  a  good  substitute  for 
the  silkworm  gut  aforesaid ;  but  it  soon  wears  out, 
and  is  not  very  strong. 

A  substitute  for  a  hook  can  be  found  in  a  pin 
or  needle — the  latter  is  best.  I  remember  once, 
some  years  back,  being  near  a  brook  in  Vermont 
where  there  were  a  great  number  of  suckers  in 
the  mill-pool  below  the  dam.  Neither  myself  nor 
friend  had  any  tackle,  but  we  wanted  broiled  fish 
with  the  other  food  we  had  brought.  We  turned 
out  our  pockets  ;  and  mine  produced  a  little  leather 
case  of  needles  and  thread  (for  sewing  on  buttons, 
etc.),  and  my  friend  found  nothing  save  the  useful 


Fiq.  14.  —  Seiving-neSdle  Substitute  for  Hook. 

jackknife.  With  this  I  sent  my  friend  off  to  cut 
a  pole  ;  and  selecting  a  good  stout  needle,  I  attached 
it  in  the  middle  to  a  double  thread  of  the  sewing- 
yarn  I  had  with  me  (Fig.  14).  As  will  be  seen, 
the  line  was  attached  nearly  in  the  middle  of  the 
needle,  and  the  blunt  end  was/n?;//,  not  to,  the  line. 


SUCKER  FISHING  2$ 

Presently  my  companion  returned,  and  we  began 
hunting  for  worms.  These  we  found  —  it  being 
early  spring  —  near  the  water,  under  stones ;  and 
presently  coming  upon  a  good  fat  one,  I  thrust 
the  needle  into  it  as  indicated  in  the  diagram  (Fig. 
I  5).     We  had  now  an  ideal  bait ;  and  as  I  dropped 

t^fi^^  Fig.  15. — Needle,  baited  with  Worm. 

it  into  the  hole  where  the  suckers  lay,  I  knew  it 
would  soon  be  taken.  This  proved  to  be  a  correct 
impression  ;  but  as  the  worm  and  needle  must  be 
swallowed,  some  half-minute  was  allowed  before  I 
proceeded  to  strike  and  draw  up.  The  strike  must 
be  sharp,  to  draw  the  pom^  of  the  needle  through 
the  worm's  side  and  catch  it  on  the  side  of  the 
fish's  throat ;  and  if  it  acts  successfully,  the  needle 
tears  out  from  the  bait  and  fixes  crosswise,  so  that 
it  cannot  be  dislodged,  and  the  fish  is  then  your 
meat.  It  was  so  in  the  case  I  am  describing. 
We  took  all  we  wanted  from  the  pool,  and  had  a 
fine  "broil "  of  firm,  delicious  brook-sucker.  "  How 
did  we  broil  them  without  utensils  ?  ''  you  ask. 
Well,  that  did  not  puzzle  us.  We  whittled  out 
two  thin  pine  boards,  —  it  was  a  sawmill  where 
we  encamped,  —  and  stuck  them  at  an  angle  over 


26 


SPJ^/JVG  ANGLING 


the  fire,  pinning  the  suckers,  spHt  and  cleaned,  on 
them,  with  a  piece  of  fat  pork  to  each  ;  and  pres- 
ently they  were  but  a  little  less  toothsome  than  a 
trout  cooked  in  the  same  way. 

I  have  found  the  needle  a  good  substitute  for  a 
hook  for. eels,  their  throats  being  much  narrower 
than  other  fish ;  and  with  a  pair  of  pincers  (pliers) 
one  can  take  out  the  needle  far  easier  than  the 
hook  from  the  gullet  of  these  snaky  fish. 

A  sinker  and  a  float,  or  bob,  are  desirable  for 
sucker  fishing,  though  not  exactly  indispensable. 
The  sinker  may  be  of  any  shape  convenient.  The 
moSt  usual  is  the  oblong  lead,  with  an  open  split 
ring  at  each  end  (Fig.  1 6) ;  but  the  most  convenient 


Fig.  16. — Oblong  Sinker. 

for  all  styles  of  fishing  where  the  sinker  is  needed, 
is  the  Tufts  "  Mackinac  "  (Fig.  1 7).    As  can  be  seen. 


Fig.  17. 
Mackinac  Sinker. 


it  is  a  shot  of  different  sizes,  cut  in  half,  and  ar- 
ranged so  that  each  half  screws  to  the  other  half. 


SUCKER   FISHING 


27 


It  can  be  put  on  and  taken  off  your  line  at  an 
instant's  notice,  and  the  weight  and 
distance  from  the  hook  be  varied  as 
you  please.  Sometimes  this  is  an  im- 
portant point,  and  may  mean  all  the 
difference  between  fish  and  no  fish. 
A  light  sinker,  not  nearer  than  a  foot 
from  the  hook,  is  the  best  ar- 
rangement as  a  general  thing. 

The    float,   or    bob,  you    can 
make  yourself  with  the  greatest 
ease.     A  very  simple  form  is  a 
cork,  good  and  solid,  and  select- 
ed because  of  its  freedom  from 
flaws.    This  is  fashioned  like  an 
^^^  in  shape  with  a  jackknife, 
and  a  quill  may  be  thrust  through 
it,  to  which  the  line  is  attached. 
If  you  choose  to  make  it  of  wood, 
choose   soft    pine,  and    make    it  the 
shape  of  Fig.  18,  filling  —  as  the  term 
is  —  with  oil  and  whitening,  to  close 
up  the  pores  of  the  wood,  and  after  that 
either  give  it  a  couple  of  coats  of  ordi- 
nary paint,  or  varnish  it  several  times 


28  SPRING  ANGLING 

with  the  shellac.  The  rings  (Fig.  1 8)  where  the  line 
passes  through  are  made  as  follows  :  Twist  some 
rather  fine  wire  three  times  round  a  small  stick  ;  cut 
off  both  ends  at  the  proper  length,  one  about  half  an 
inch  and  the  other  flush  with  the  coil.  Then  turn 
the  coil  to  right  angles,  and  bind  the  other  ends  to 
the  stems  of  the  float,  using  the  silk  waxed  as  be- 
fore ;  touch  with  shellac  varnish,  and  you  have  as 
good  a  float  as  you  need  for  sucker  fishing.  Of 
course  the  coiled  spring-like  arrangement  is  to 
allow  you  to  adjust  the  "bob"  to  suit  any  depth 
of  water.  The  line  should  be  weighted,  so  that 
it  stands  in  the  water  to  where  the  line  across  is 
shown  in  the  diagram. 

We  have  now  all  the  tackle  necessary,  and  the 
next  thing  is  the  bait.  Nothing  beats  the  garden 
or  earth  worm  for  suckers,  and  I  need  not  say  that 
it  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  old  "  stand-bys  "  for 
almost  all  other  kinds  of  fresh-water  fishes.  Very 
few  fishes  will  reject  a  lively,  clean  worm,  with  its 
pretty  tints  of  coral  and  pearl  and  opal  iridescence ; 
that  is,  it  looks  like  this  if  you  prepare  it  as  I  am 
going  to  tell  you. 

"What!"  I  hear  some  one  exclaim,  "fuss  with 
earthworms !  " 


SUCKER  FISHING  29 

"Yes,  my  young  friend,"  I  reply  ;  "and  you  will 
find  your  basket  will  take  on  at  least  an  added 
twenty  per  cent  per  annum  in  number  of  fish,  if 
you  never  fish  with  worms  that  have  not  gone 
through  the  preparation  I  am  about  to  describe." 

Dig  your  worms,  in  spring,  from  beneath  stones 
that  are  near  springs  that  have  not  frozen  ;  later 
you  can  get  them  in  the  garden  ;  and  in  summer 
the  smallest  you  can  find  by  lantern-light  from 
the  lawn  after  a  rain  at  night  are  good  species  of 
earthworm  for  the  angler.  The  little  "gilt  cock- 
spur,"  as  it  is  called  in  England,  from  old  rotten 
manure  heaps  (it  has  a  yellow  tip  to  its  body),  and 
the  yellow-banded,  bad-smelling  "brandling"  (it  is 
yellow-banded, — you  can't  mistake  it),  are  some- 
times more  effectual  than  the  common  "gardenia  ;  " 
but  all  of  them  may  be  gathered  as  opportunity 
offers,  and  constitute  eventually  valuable  bait. 
Gather  your  worms  in  a  clean  can  or  other  recep- 
tacle, and  place  some  soil  under  them,  so  that  they 
can  crawl  down  through  it.  Those  that  have  been 
accidentally  bruised,  or  otherwise  hurt,  will  be  too 
feeble  to  crawl,  and  will  remain  on  the  top ;  and 
these,  together  with  any  dead  ones,  must  be  thrown 
away.     Now  get  a  deep  earthenware  pan  or  box, 


30  SPRING  ANGLING 

and  place  a  few  inches  of  dampened  moss  on 
.the  bottom,  and  turn  the  worms  onto  it.  They 
will  immediately  begin  to  crawl  down  through,  and, 
in  so  doing,  will  cleanse  themselves  from  all  dirt 
and  impurity.  In  a  few  days,  especially  if  the 
moss  is  washed,  and  the  worms  picked  over  for 
lame  ones,  they  will  have  become  almost  transpar- 
ent, and  so  tough  they  cannot  be  broken  by  hand- 
ling or  placing  them  on  the  hook.  By  occasionally 
pouring  a  little  sweet  milk  over  them,  they  can  be 
kept  for  a  long  time  ;  and  a  worm  so  prepared  will 
live  twice  as  long  in  the  water,  and  be  twice  as 
lively  and  attractive,  as  the  worm  dug  fresh  out  of 
the  ground. 

I  presume  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  tell 
my  readers  where  to  fish  for  suckers.  Every  boy 
knows  where  the  fish  abound  in  the  spring  of 
the  year,  and  the  brooks  where  they  are  most 
to  be  seen.  This  axiom  stands  good  for  fishing 
at  all  times  :  "  Go  where  the  fish  are,  —  don't 
expect  them  to  come  to  you.''  It  is  precisely 
because  the  boy  fisherman  commonly  knows  w/iei-e 
to  fish  that  he  often  beats  the  stranger,  wise  as 
the  latter  may  be  in  regard  to  tackle  and  baits, 
and  well  equipped  though  he  be  with  all  the 
latest  fads  and  fancies  in  tackling. 


SUCKER  FISHING  3 1 

Well,  having  decided  to  fish  in  a  certain  spot, 
adjust  your  bob  so  that  the  bait  will  be  just  off 
the  bottom,  and  then  proceed  to  bait  your  hook. 
Now,  there  is  a  right  way  to  do  this,  and,  of 
course,  a  wrong ;  and  I  want  to  make  the  former 
plain  right  here,  because  it  is  right  for  trout  and 
bass  and  other  better  fish  than  suckers.  Take 
the  hook  by  the  shank  between  finger  and  thumb 
of  the  right  hand,  and  enter  the  point  into  the 
worm  a  little  distance  from  the  head,  so  that 
the  head  can  move  when  on  the  hook.  Run  the 
hook  through  to  the  tail,  but  not  quite  out.  You 
now  have  a  worm-hidden  hook,  and  both  the  head 
and  tail  are  wriggling.  The  chief  advantage,  how- 
ever, is  in  the  fact  that  you  cannot  fail  to  hook 
the  wariest  fish  if  the  worm  be  threaded  on  in 
this  way.  Some  prefer  looping  the  worm ;  but 
this  bunches  it,  and  may  and  does  interfere  with 
the  chance  of  hooking  the  fish.  For  bass,  the 
worm  is  sometimes  simply  hooked  through  the 
middle,  and  allowed  to  squirm  ;  and  this  is  very 
deadly,  though  an  exception  to  the  rule. 

The  sucker  usually  goes  in  herds,  and  in  fishing 
for  him  this  must  be  borne  in  mind.  Gently 
swing  out    your   baited    hook,   not    making  more 


32  SPRIA^G  ANGLING 

noise  than  you  can  help,  and  wait  patiently,  not 
running  up  and  down  the  bank,  but  at  one  place, 
and  quietly  watching  the  bob.  Ha !  a  tremulous 
motion  seems  to  go  through  it ;  now  it  is  still ! 
again  it  quivers,  and  now  it  slowly  disappears.  It 
is  time  to  strike,  but  I  beg  you  to  do  it  swiftly 
but  not  with  violence ;  and,  having  hooked  the 
fish,  dont!  dont!  dont!  begin  to  haul  in  and 
try  to  lift  it  out  by  main  force.  This  is  a  lesson 
you  miLst  learn  in  all  kinds  of  fishing,  if  you  would 
get  the  full  amount  of  enjoyment  it  is  able  to  give. 
What  you  should  do  is  as  follows  (and  it  applies 
to  pretty  nearly  all  fish,  except  the  very  smallest)  : 
Strike  with  a  smart  twitch,  and  then,  keeping  the 
point  of  the  rod  or  pole  well  yx^^,  first  endeavor  to 
get  your  fish  out  of  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
that  he  may  not  startle  other  fish  thereabouts  ; 
and  next  tire  him  so  that  he  comes  ashore  readily, 
putting,  all  the  while,  the  strain  on  the  elastic 
pole.  If  you  do  this,  you  will  seldom  break  loose 
from  the  fish  or  break  your  tackle ;  but  if  you 
follow  your  first  impulse,  and  attempt  to  "yank" 
the  sucker  out,  you  may  break  your  rod  or  line, 
especially  if  the  fish  is  a  large  one  (and  I  have 
caught  them  up  to  four  pounds). 


SUCKER  FISHING  33 

I  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  sucker  fishing,  and 
so  may  my  readers.  In  the  spring,  whilst  the 
snow-water  yet  runs  down  from  the  mountains, 
the  fish  are  gamey,  and  fight  with  a  good  deal  of 
bull-dog  like  courage.  Moreover,  they  are  quite 
palatable  to  eat ;  and  that  my  boy  readers  may 
know  how  to  clean  and  prepare  the  fish  for  cook- 
ing, the  following  few  words  of  experience  will 
be  in  order. 

Kill  your  fish  by  means  of  a  stone  or  stick, 
striking  it  on  the  back  of  the  head.  If  it  is  a 
small  one,  you  can  place  your  thumb  into  its 
mouth,  —  its  soft  mouth  cannot  hurt  you,  —  and, 
pressing  the  ball  of  the  thumb  against  the  roof 
of  the  mouth  and  the  finger  on  the  head  outside, 
quickly  jerk  the  head  back.  This  will  break  the 
neck,  and  death  is  instantaneous.  Kill  all  fish  at 
once  after  catching  them  :  it  is  merciful  to  do  so 
(and  "  blessed  arc  the  merciful  "). 

When  you  get  home,  whilst  the  fish  is  still 
fresh  and  moist,  plunge  it  into  scalding  water 
(two  parts  boiling,  one  part  cold),  and  after  let- 
ting it  remain  a  few  seconds,  withdraw  it,  and  see 
if  the  scales  come  off  easily ;  if  not,  give  it  rather 
more  time  in   the   hot  water.     When   the   scales 


34'  SPRING  ANGLING 

come  off  very  readily,  as  they  will  do  when 
scalded  sufficiently,  scrape  them  carefully  off,  and 
cut  off  the  fins  with  an  old  pair  of  shears.  Wipe 
off  all  the  slime  and  coloring  matter  of  the  fish  ; 
and  it  should  be  snow-white  when  properly  done. 
Do  not  place  it  in  water  of  any  kind  again,  but 
when  you  cut  it  open,  use  a  damp  towel  to  cleanse 
the  interior  parts.  Cut  off  the  head ;  and  if  it  is 
early  in  the  season  you  have  a  firm,  palatable  fish. . 
There  is  no  better  way  to  cook  this  fish  than 
by  broiling,  or  frying  it  in  pork-fat.  The  latter 
should  be  very  hot,  and  the  fish  should  be  cut  in 
pieces  of  suitable  length.  It  is  to  be  eaten  with 
a  plain  boiled  potato,  and  a  squeeze  of  lemon- 
juice  over  the  fish;  and  the  boy  must  be  an  epi- 
cure indeed  who  cannot  enjoy  it.  If  the  fish  be 
a  large  one,  say  over  two  pounds,  the  backbone 
may  be  taken  out  by  opening  it  carefully  down 
the  back  and  cutting  away  the  flesh  from  each 
side,  using  a  long,  thin,  and  flexible  knife  for  the 
purpose.  My  readers  should  practise  fish  dissec- 
tion in  this  way.  Last  summer  I  astonished  some 
unbelieving  friends  by  taking  out  every  bone  of 
a  large  shad  they  brought  to  me,  and  I  did  not 
cut  away  much  meat  either.     But  to  return  to  our 


SUCKER  FISHING  35 

sucker  fishing.  I  have  found  the  fishing  best 
when  the  wind  has  been  in  the  south  or  south- 
west ;  and  on  the  best  day  last  year  I  caught 
seven,  averaging  two  pounds  apiece,  in  two  hours. 
These  were  as  many  as  I  wanted  ;  and,  like  good 
old  Izaak  Walton,  I  required  them  only  to  give  to 
a  "poor  body"  with  a  large  family,  so  I  consider 
it  was  very  good  luck.  As  I  used  much  finer 
tackle  than  was  suggested  in  the  foregoing,  I  had 
the  greater  sport ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  my 
boy  friends  may  not  do  likewise  with  their  own 
tackle,  as  here  described. 


36  SPIKING   ANGLING 


CHAPTER    II 

PICKEREL   TROLLING   IN    SPRING 

As  soon  as  the  ice  goes  out  of  the  lakes  where 
pickerel  (Esox  litems)  abound,  some  grand  sport 
may  be  had  trolling.  There  is  a  fitness  also  in 
referring  to  this  form  of  pike-fishing  at  this  place, 
because  I  want  this  little  book  to  be  progressive, 
and  we  take  one  step  higher  in  fishing  for  pick- 
erel than  in  fishing  for  suckers.  The  trout  season 
opens,  it  is  true,  near  about  this  time  in  the 
spring ;  but  it  will  be  well  for  you  to  come  with 
me,  bringing  your  coarse  tackle,  for  one  day  be- 
fore you  essay  to  catch  the  beautiful  "  salmon 
of  the  fountains,"  which  is  what  is  meant  by 
the  scientific  name  of  the  brook-trout  {Salnio 
fontinalis.) 

A  pole  is  not  actually  necessary  in  trolling, 
though,  for  my  own  part,  I  always  use  one.  Two 
lines  may  be  used  ;  and  there  should  be  two  of  you 
in  the  boat,  —  one  to  row,  and  the  other  to  manip- 
ulate the  lines.     These  should  be  of  linen,  eight 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING 


37 


braid,  and  very  strong,  and  dressed  with  the  par- 
raffine  wax  dressing  before  given.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  is  not  too  much  line  for  each,  and 
a  winder  (Fig.  19)  can  be  made  out  of  soft  wood 


Fig.  19.  —  Winder  for  Trolling-line,  etc. 

to  contain  each  one  (though  be  sure  to  unwind 
and  dry  them  after  reaching  home  at  night).  In 
order  to  render  the  allure  more  likely  to  attract 
fish  by  reason  of  its  connection  with  the  line 
being  less  visible,  I  always  attach  three  feet 
of  three-ply  twisted  fine  brass  wire  to  the  line, 
taking  care  to  have  a  large  swivel  —  duly  tested 
to  see  that  it    is   strong  at   each   end   (Fig.   20). 


Fig.  20.  —  Swivel. 

Through  the  swivel  at  the  line  end  goes  the  line ; 
and  through  that  at  the  other  end  goes  the  allure, 
be  it  spoon,  or  artificial  fish,  or  large  trolling-fly, 
or  dead  fish. 


38 


SPRING  ANGLING 


Fig.  21.  — Ordinary  Spoon. 


Without  doubt  the  spoon- 
bait (Fig.  2i)  is  the  best  all 
round  allure  for  troll- 
ing for  pickerel  in  the 
spring    of    the    year. 
Fig.    22     is     one     of 
Chapman's    make    of 
Clayton,    N.Y.  ;    and 
with  one  like  this  he  last 
year  caught  a  mascalonge 
in  the  River  St.  Lawrence 
weighing  forty-two  pounds. 
But  the  ingenious  boy  can 
make    a    spoon    that    will 
serve   his    purpose  almost 
as  well,  though  of  course  it 
will  not  appear  so  finished 
or  handsome. 

In  the  first  place,  he 
must  coax  his  good  mother 
to  let  him  have  an  old 
teaspoon,  plated  is  good 
enough  (silver  is  too  good  to 
lose),  and  cut  off  the  bowl 
iust  above  where  the  handle 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING 


39 


Fig.  22.  —  Chapman  Spoon. 


40  SFJ^IA^G  ANGLING. 

sets  in  with  a  file.  Having  done  this  neatly,  he  must 
bore  a  hole  in  each  end,  and  be  careful  that  the 
edges  of  the  hole  are  rounded  and  smooth,  or 
they  may  cut  the  whipping  of  his  hooks.  He 
now  has  a  spoon  bowl  with  two  holes  in  it ;  the 
smaller  end  we  will  call  the  top,  and  the  larger 
end  the  bottom.  Now,  the  smaller  end  must  be 
the  one  next  nearest  the  trolling-line,  or  the  sjDoon 
won't  spin  ;  and  into  the  hole  he  passes  a  small 
strong  split  ring,  to  be  got  at  any  hardware  store. 
Keeping  it  open  with  his  knife,  he  now  slides  the 
ring  of  the  swivel,  to  which  he  has  attached  a 
length  of  gimp  guitar-string,  and  a  ringed  triplet 
hook  is  placed  in  the  lower  hole,  also  by  means  of 
a  split  ring.  The  lure  now  looks  like  Fig.  21,  and 
will  catch  fish  as  it  is  ;  but  it  is  better  to  tie  some 
gaudy  feathers  on  the  shank  of  the  lower  hookj  to 
hide  the  very  "rank"  barbs  (Fig.  22).  The  tying 
of  these  feathers  need  not  be  difficult,  and  almost 
any  bright  feathers,  begged  from  your  sister's  hat, 
will  do.  Tie  them,  as  recommended  in  sucker 
fishing  for  the  whipping  of  hooks,  and  you  now 
have  a  lure  just  as  likely  to  catch  a  forty-two 
pound  mascalonge  as  Mr.  Chapman's  beautiful 
weapon  shown  in   Fig.  22. 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING. 


41 


Curiously  enough,  it  is 
not  always  the  most  ele- 
gant spoon  that  catches 
most  fish  ;  though  what 
I  am  going  to  relate  by 
no  means  should  be  used 
as  an  argument  against 
nice  tackle,  but  rather  as 
an  apology  for  the  in- 
ferior kind.  Some  years 
ago  I  was  living  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Cossayu- 
na,  Washington  County, 
N.Y.,  and  near  by  me 
lived  my  friend,  Wm. 
McClellan,  also  a  most 
devoted  disciple  of  Izaak 
Walton.  One  day  in 
early  spring  he  sought 
me  out,  and  prevailed  on 
me  to  take  another  with 

us    to   row,    and   to    go    a-  Fig.23.-A  mmg  Pattern. 

trolling.  Said  I,"  William,  I  must  rig  me  out  a  spoon 
with  fine  feathers,  and  new  hooks,  for  this  auspi- 
cious occasion.     See,  I  have  one  of  friend  Chap- 


42  SPRING  ANGLING. 

man's  finest  (see  Fig.  22),  and  the  hooks  are  as 
vivid  as  Jacob's  coat  of  many  colors."  —  "Bosh," 
said  he,  "  this  is  good  enough  for  me ; "  and  he 
called  attention  to  a  blurred  and  battered  and 
rusted  old  tin  spoon,  to  which  some  colorless 
threads  of  feathers  hung  in  scarecrow  fashion  ; 
"and  what  is  more,  it  will  catch  twice  as  many 
as  your  brand  new  tackling,  I'll  wager."- — "Ha, 
ha ! "  I  roared,  "  hang  it  up  in  the  apple-tree  for 
the  birds  to  laugh  at,  but  don't  disgrace  me  with 
such  a  spoon-bait."  But  fish  with  it  he  would  and 
did.  We  rowed  back  and  forth  on  the  lake  all 
that  morning,  and  caught  thirty-seven  pickerel ; 
and  how  many  do  you  suppose  fell  to  the  share 
of  my  splendid  spoon-bait  ?  Just  fottr.  I  tried 
everything  to  change  the  luck.  I  even  fished 
right  in  my  friend's  water,  with  my  bait  revolving 
only  a  few  inches  away  from  his  ragged  old  bait ; 
and  even  then  the  fish  preferred  his  lure  to  mine. 
Oh,  how  he  did  tease  about  it !  I  never  met  him 
but  he  reminded  me  of  this,  the  only  occasion 
when  I  was  badly  beaten  by  him.  I  made  it  up 
next  day.  Now,  I  grieve  to  say,  he  is  dead  — 
gone  to  that  "  undiscovered  country  from  whose 
bourn  no  traveller  returns."     (Rest  in  peace  !) 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IJV  SPRING  43 

Other  shapes  of  alkires  are  sometimes  very 
successful  in  trolHng.  Fig.  23  shows  a  shape 
that  can  be  cut  out  of  tin,  and  will  serve,  though 
of  course  nothing  beats  the  spoon  amongst  the 
fancy  baits.  I  have  sometimes  made  a  rough-and- 
ready  arrangement  answer  admirably,  as  I  did  once 
last  spring.  It  was  this  way.  I  was  passing  by 
a  famous  hole  in  the  river  near  where  I  live,  and 
in  the  bright  warm  beams  I  saw  a  four  to  five 
pound  pickerel  basking  near  the  shore.  How  to 
capture  him  I  had  not  the  least  idea  ;  but  I  sat 
down  on  a  stone  and  began  a  search  in  my 
pockets.  Item  i,  a  pair  of  nail  shears,  small,  but 
strong ;  item  2,  a  piece  of  silk  fish-line  about  four 
yards  long,  and  strong ;  item  3,  a  jackknife  ;  item 
4,  some  pieces  of  lead  ;  item  5,  an  eel-hook,  large, 
and  ringed  at  end  of  shank.  This  is  what  I  did.  I 
cut  a  pole  and  tied  my  line  securely  to  it ;  next 
r  looked  around,  and,  this  being  a  well-known 
sucker  pool,  I  found  an  old  tin  worm-box.  With 
the  shears  (I  confess  I  spoiled  them),  I  cut  a  piece 
of  tin  in  the  shape  of  a  fish,  roughly  fashioned, 
of  course  ;  and  with  one  of  the  points  I  bored 
a  hole  in  both  ends  of  the  bait.  In  one  hole  I 
slipped  the  ring  of  the  hook,  and  closed  it  tight 


44  SPRING  ANGLING 

by  hammering  with  a  stone  ;  in  the  other  I  tied 
the  Hne  two  or  three  times  through,  so  that  it 
would  be  less  likely  to  be  cut,  and  lo  and 
behold !  I  had  a  glittering  pickerel  bait.  With 
my  heart  beating  loudly,  I  approached  the  water, 
and  looked  over  to  where  my  pickerel  had  lain. 
He  was7it  there  I  Oh,  the  throes  of  disappoint- 
ment I  experienced  after  all  my  trouble !  I 
was  on  the  verge  of  throwing  the  whole  thing 
into  the  stream,  and  telling  him  to  take  it  when 
he  next  came  that  way,  when,  on  peering  closely 
again,  I  caught  sight  of  the  cold,  malicious,  fierce 
eye  of  this  river  pirate  from  beneath  a  patch  of 
weeds  near  where  I  first  saw  him  ;  and  in  a  mo- 
ment I  dropped  the  glistening  bait,  not  in  front 
of  him,  for  that  would  have  scared  him,  but  just 
behind,  drawing  it  slowly  away.  In  a  second  he 
was  on  it,  with  a  ferocious  rush  and  a  tremendous 
splash,  and  I  felt  at  once  he  had  hooked  himself. 
I  dared  not  be  severe  with  him,  and  you  may 
imagine  the  tussle  I  had  with  no  reel  and  only 
four  yards  or  so  of  line.  Backwards  and  forwards 
he  struggled,  and  I  saw  that  he  was  securely 
hooked  in  the  fleshy  part  of  the  mustache  or 
movable  lip ;  and  by  and  by,  to  shorten  my  story. 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING 


45 


I  drew  him  to  shore,  and,  stooping  and  putting  my 

finger  and  thumb  in  his  eyes,  threw  him  well  upon 

the  bank.     (This  is 

the    best    way    to 

land    a  pickerel   if 

you  had  no  landing-      ^^^,^    //Jlw^l\\TO\ 

net.) 

Trolling  for  pick- 
erel with  the  Cale- 
donian minnow  is 
another  good  way 
(Fig.  24),  and  troll- 
ing   with    a    large 
hook   to   which 
white  feathers  have 
been     tied     some- 
what in  the  form  of  a  fish,  occa- 
sionally is  productive  of  a  good 
basket  ;  but,  next  to  the  spoon, 
the  dead  natural  bait  certainly  takes 
precedence  of  all. 

An  ingenious  boy  can  certainly 
make  his  own  tackle  for  the  latter. 
That  which  I  prefer  is  shown  Fig. 
25,  and  consists  of  a  piece  of  rather 


Fig.  24. 
Caledonian  Minnouu. 


46  SPRING  ANGLING 

stout  sheet  copper  cut  with  the  shears  to  the  form 
of  Fig.  25  at  A.  The  hooks  are  attached  as  also 
shown.  To  bait  it  the  shaft  (Fig.  25,  A)  is  thrust 
clown  the  throat  of  the  dead  bait,  and  the  tail  of 
the  bait  bent  to  a  sufficient  curve  to  cause  it  to 
spin,  or  rather  to  gyrate,  with  a  sort  of  "  wabble," 
which  is  very  attractive  to  pickerel.  The  hooks 
lie  alongside  the  bait.  It  is  seldom  on  a  bright 
day,  with  the  wind  not  too  cold,  that  the  tyro 
cannot  capture  pike  with  one  or  the  other  of  the 
lures  I  have  described.  I  have  also  found  the  fin 
of  a  perch,  or  the  belly  part  of  a  small  pickerel,  an 
excellent  substitute  for  the  spoon. 

Great  Lake  Trout  (the  Salmo  namayctish)  are 
also  caught  by  trolling  in  a  somewhat  similar  way, 
and  at  about  the  same  time  of  the  year ;  but  as  it  is 
not  likely  my  boy  readers  will  take  up  Great  Lake 
trolling  at  this  stage  of  the  subject,  I  will  not  do 
more  than  mention  the  fact  that  on  Lake  George 
the  experts  use  a  gang,  whereon  the  bait-fish  is 
impaled.  The  one  described  above  will  do  very 
well ;  and  having  out  a  long,  strong  line,  they 
travel  for  miles,  trolling  this  bait  behind  the  boat, 
and  their  patience  is  rewarded  with  great  fish, 
ranging  up  as  high  as  the  twenties,  and  even 
higher.     (This  is  true  of  the  West  especially.) 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING  \J 


Fig.  25.  —  Home-made  Gang. 


48  SPRING  ANGLING 

Then,  again,  the  mascalonge  is  taken  this  way ; 
but  though  trolHng  for  this  fish  is  at  best  very 
elementary  angling,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
boys  will  want  to  undertake  it  until  they  have  mas- 
tered the  rudiments  of  the  finer  and  more  sci- 
entific angling  for  smaller  and  more  manageable 
fishes. 

The  best  time  in  the  North  for  pickerel  trolling 
on  the  lakes  and  rivers  is  when  the  apple-trees  are 
in  full  blossom  ;  but  the  fish  can  be  caught  much 
earlier,  and  I  have  referred  to  it  in  the  present 
order  of  sequence  as  a  spring  pastime,  because 
considerable  and  undivided  attention  must  be 
given  to  the  next  chapter.  Moreover,  I  wanted  to 
lead  my  pupils  up  to  trout  fishing  by  stepping- 
stones  to  knowledge,  as  it  were. 

Two  useful  implements  must  not  be  forgotten 
when  one  goes  trolling ;  viz.,  the  disgorger  and  the 
home-made  rack  for  keeping  open  the  fish's  mouth. 
As  you  know,  the  pickerel  has  long  and  sharp 
teeth,  and  one  is  very  apt  to  get  a  nasty  bite  or 
cut  when  unhooking  the  fish,  if  not  in  some  way 
protected.  The  device  I  use  is  a  V-shaped  or 
forked  piece  of  stout  wood  or  bifurcated  branch. 
It  is  cut  from  a  bush  of  any  stiff  wood.     To  use  it. 


PICKEREL    TROLLING  IN  SPRING  4t9 

the  apex  or  small  end  of  the  V  is  pushed  into  the 
pickerel's  mouth  sidewise,  and  turned  round,  open- 
ing the  jaw,  and  thus  keeping  them  open.  The 
disgorger  is  simply  a  stick  with  a  V-shaped  piece 
cut  out  of  the  end,  and  may  be  also  made  either 
of  bone  or  hard  wood  or  metal.  To  use  it,  take 
the  line  in  the  left  hand  and  pass  the  notch  into 
the  bend  of  the  hook,  and  the  latter  is  then  readily 
dislodged. 


50  SPRING  ANGLING 


CHAPTER    III 

BAIT-FISHING   FOR   TROUT 

As  soon  as  the  trout  fishing  opens,  this  beautiful 
game  fish  will  readily  take  the  worm  ;  indeed,  it  is 
not  at  all  uncommon  to  get  a  trout  when  sucker 
fishing,  but  they  are  then  not  yet  in  good  condi- 
tion, and  take  the  bait  with  hesitation,  and  show 
no  fighting  power  or  resistance.  Indeed,  so  late  as 
the  1st  of  May  in  1893  I  have  found  them  "logy" 
and  sucker-like  in  Vermont  (Bennington  County)  ; 
and  many  times  when  I  pulled  up  a  trout  I  could 
have  made  an  affidavit,  before  seeing  the  fish,  that 
it  was  a  sucker  from  the  tameness  of  its  behavior  ; 
indeed,  the  suckers  bit  with  greater  freedom,  and 
caused  more  exertion  of  skill  to  land  them  with 
fine  tackle  than  the  trout. 

But  what  a  fine  basket  of  fish  myself  and  friend 
did  catch  on  that  same  May  i,  1893!  We  drove 
all  night  from  Greenwich,  N.Y.,  nearly  twenty 
miles,  up  hill  and  down,  and  in  a  blinding  rain- 
storm.    By  daylight  we  were  at  the  brush  factory, 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  51 

West  Arlington,  Vermont ;  and  as  we  took  our 
horse  out  of  the  buggy,  we  found  we  were  not 
alone,  but  several  other  kindred  souls,  including  a 
lady  and  a  little  girl,  were  ready  to  begin  fishing 
also.  All  the  few  inhabitants  of  the  village  turn 
out  on  May  Day  to  fish  the  lovely  Ondawa ;  for 
that  is  the  first  day  of  the  season,  and  the  first 
fishing  after  the  long  Vermont  winter.  But  on 
this  occasion  it  rained,  and  rained,  and  rained  !  and 
yet  through  it  all  we  caught  half-pounders  and  less- 
sized  fish,  till  our  baskets  were  full  to  overflowing ; 
and  then,  while  yet  midday,  we  had  dinner  at  our 
friend  Babcock's,  —  the  redoubtable  and  evergreen 
Jim  Babcock,  may  his  shadow  never  grow  less, — 
and  came  away. 

Fishing  with  the  bait  is  greatly  practised  in 
mountain  streams  all  the  trout  year,  but  there  are 
special  features  attending  it  in  the  springtime 
that  do  not  appear  in  the  later  season.  The  fish, 
as  the  weather  becomes  warm,  are  getting  hungry 
after  their  long  winter's  fast,  and  seize  the  bait 
greedily ;  and  very  soon  one  finds  that  to  make  a 
good  basket  it  is  necessary  to  use  much  strategy ; 
for  the  trout,  unlike  the  sucker,  is  easily  scared. 

Oh,  how  glorious  it  is  to  follow  some  purling 


52  SPRING  ANGLING 

Stream  down  in  these  halcyon  spring  days  !  and, 
whilst  the  birds  and  flowers  and  greening  hills 
are  manifest  to  your  appreciative  senses,  to  catch 
this  beautiful  Apollo  of  the  stream  with  deft  and 
careful  skill !  How  the  season,  the  beauty  of 
nature,  and  the  invigorating  atmosphere  and  sun- 
shine combine  to  make  a  setting  for  this  best  of 
spring  fishing !  I  beg  of  you,  boys,  not  to  miss  it. 
Many  springs  have  I  pursued  it,  and  never  once 
has  it  disappointed  me. 

But  you  must  be  told  the  best  way  to  go  about 
it.  And,  first,  the  rod  must  be  considered  anew. 
I  really  think,  by  this  time,  —  by  the  time  our 
young  angler  has  got  to  the  dignity  of  trout- 
fishing, —  it  is  right  he  discarded  the  copse-cut 
pole  and  arrived  at  a  real  rod.  Not  that  the  pole 
will  not  catch  fish,  but  there  is  additional  pleasure 
to  be  gotten  out  of  the  use  of  nicer  and  finer 
tackle.  The  pole  does  well  enough  for  primitive 
spots  yet  existing,  and  for  the  olden  times,  when 
only  the  lazy  boys  of  the  village  seemed  to  do  the 
fishing ;  but  now,  when  young  gentlemen,  in  the 
intervals  of  their  studies,  go  angling,  and  when 
even  the  fish  have  grown  educated,  it  is  time  to 
make  use  of  what  Mr.  Gladstone  calls  the   "  re- 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  53 

sources  of  civilization ; "  and  I  therefore  insist  on 
a  real  rod,  line,  reel,  and  leader  for  spring  trout 
fishing. 

The  rod.  If  you  can  afford  it,  go  to  your  near- 
est drug-store,  and  you  can  get  a  jointed  12-foot 
bamboo  for  about  one  dollar.     This  is  quite  good 


Fig.  26.  —  Cheap  Brass  Reel. 

enough  for  brook  bait-fishing,  and  if  you  break  it 
going  through  the  brush  it  is  no  great  matter.  I 
myself  sometimes  use  to  this  day  such  a  rod,  and 
find  it  both  light  and  convenient.  A  plain  brass 
reel  will  serve,  something  after  the  pattern  shown 
at  Fig.  26,  and  a  silk  line  of  75  feet  is  long  enough 


54  SPRING   ANGLING 

for  all  brook  purposes.  It  should  not  be  too 
thick,  and  may  be  dressed  in  the  wax  referred  to 
on  an  earlier  page.  Of  course,  the  rod  must  be 
supplied  with  guides. 


C 


Fig.  27.  —  Kirby-Carlisle  Trout-hook. 

The  best  hook  I  know  for  bait-fishing  for  trout 
is  the  eyed  Pennell  hook  (Fig.  lo)  ;  but  a  round 
bend  hook,  not  more  than  three-eighths  inch 
across  the  bend,  is  suitable.  It  must  have  a  long 
shank ;  and  the  kind  I  like  best  is  that  known  as 
the  Kirby-Carlisle  (Fig.  27).  This  has  a  slight 
side  twist,  and  this  twist  enables  the  hook  to  hook 
into  the  fish  more  quickly  than  would  otherwise 
be  the  case. 


C 


^/iim'tiii"'iiiiitMa 


Fig.  28.  —  Hook  for  Worm-fishing  with  Bristle  Attachment. 

Of  course  gut  is  used  for  the  snell ;  and,  at  the 
same  time  the  hook  is  bound  on,  a  short  piece  of 
thin  wire  or  gut  or  bristle  is  tied  alongside  it,  so 
that  it  projects  one-quarter  of  an  inch  above  the 
end  of  the  shank  (Fig.  28).     This  prevents  the  bait 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  55 

from  slipping  down  and  becoming  a  bunch  on  the 
hook.  It  is  properly  baited  by  running  the  hook 
through  from  head  to  tail. 

Sometimes  a  little  float,  or  bob,  of  white  quill  is 
useful  to  let  you  know  where  your  line  is,  and  to 
indicate  the  least  bite.  I  often  use  a  piece  of 
cork  about  the  size  of  a  bean  to  carry  the  line 
down  and  indicate  its  whereabouts.  Of  this,  how- 
ever, more  later. 


fig.  2Q.— Basket  or  Creel. 

We  will  now  suppose  the  angler  arrived  at  the 
stream.  He  needs  to  have  a  bag  or  basket  to 
contain  his  fish  and  lunch,  and  we  will  spend  a 
moment  in  considering  this  useful  piece  of  equip- 
ment. Now,  the  ordinary  form  of  basket  is  shown 
in  Fig.  29,  and  answers  very  well.     I  have  no  fault 


56 


SJ'I^/AG  AXGU/TG 


to  find  with  it ;  but  it  costs  a  dollar  or  more,  and  a 
bag  made  of  an  old  linen  sheet  or  table-cloth, 
which  can  be  washed  every  time  after  being  useii, 
is  even  preferable.  I  object  to  putting  my  fresh 
and  beautiful  trout  into  an  ill-smelling  basket ;  and 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  deixlorize  or  get  out  the 
smell  of  fish  if  once  it  has  got  well  into  the  jx)rous 
woodwork.     Then,  again,  the  basket  soon  rots,  — 


Ft^.  so.  —Horn*  w^  fhk  k9§. 

about  three  seasons  is  the  life  of  it,  —  and  you 
have  to  buy  another. 

A  bag  something  like  Fig.  30  is  the  most  suit- 
able for  the  boy  bait  trout-fisher.  He  can  also  carry 
his  worms  in  the  small  bag  at  <?,  Fig.  30,  in  damp 
moss,  and  thus  avoid  the  extra  trouble  of  attaching 
a  tin  bait-box.  However,  if  he  wishes  to  do  this, 
Fig.  3 1  is  a  good  pattern.  My  own  bag  is  a  leath- 
ern one,  and  so  made  that  it  can  be  turned  inside 


BAIT-FISHING  FOX   TROUT  57 

out  to  be  scrubbed ;  and  a  little  leather  pouch  no 
larger  than  a  cigar-case  carries  all  my  fishing  tackle 
when  out  bait-fishing.  Of  course  fly-fishing  is 
another  story,  and  we  shall  have  a  great  deal  to 
consider  beyond  the  foregoing  when  we  come  to 
that  fine  art  of  angling. 


Fig.  31,— Vn  Worm-box,  with  Safety-pin  AttackmaiL 

Now,  in  fishing  in  a  stream,  no  matter  how  large 
or  how  small  it  may  be,  here  are  some  maxims 
you  must  bear  in  mind  :  — 

Donf  get  nearer  the  water  than  you  are  abso- 
lutely obliged.  Reach  as  far  as  possible  with  your 
rod. 

Don/  go  stamping  around  as  if  you  were  cold. 
Tread  lightly ;  trout  can  hear  by  means  of  the 
nervous  apparatus  attached  to  each  scale  (you 
didn't  know  trout  had  scales !  Well,  they  cer- 
tainly have ! ) ;  and  they  feel,  if  they  don't  hear, 
as  you  do,  the  tread  of  the  heavy-footed  angler. 


58  SPRING   ANGLING 

Don't  fish  dozvn  stream  in  slow  flowing  water, 
but  up.      If  the  water  is  swift,  you  must  fish  down. 

Dan  t  yank  your  fish  out  of  the  water  as  if  you 
wanted  him  to  fly,  but  it  is  well  to  get  him  out 
with  reasonable  haste. 

Dont  fish  hastily  ;  dont  be  afraid  to  renew  your 
bait  frequently  ;  and  dont  forget  that  the  most 
successful  fisherman  is  he  who  has  his  line  the 
most  in  the  water. 

With  these  few  donts  as  preliminary  to  the  les- 
son, I  now  proceed  to  fish  a  typical  mountain 
brook  with  you. 

Of  course  your  worms  are  well  scoured,  as  I  told 
you  in  the  chapter  on  sucker  fishing.  That  being 
so,  select  a  moderately  large  one,  and  bait  your 
hook.  Here  the  stream  runs  through  grass  land 
tolerably  level.  Crawl  near  and  let  your  bait  fall 
gently.  It  is  invariably  as  soon  as  the  bait 
touches  the  water  that  the  voracious  little  fish 
bite  —  and  ha !  you  have  one,  but  it  is  very  small, 
too  small  to  keep.  Yes,  the  State  enacts  five 
inches  as  the  least  size  at  which  the  trout  may  be 
kept ;  and  taking  your  little  fish  off  as  gently  as 
possible,  we  throw  him  back.  Try  down  by  yon- 
der bush  that  hangs  over  the  stream  ;  drop  your 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  59 

line  in  so  that  the  current  carries  the  bait  towards 
the  roots  of  the  alder.  Now  watch  it  in  its  course. 
It  rolls  gently  and  slowly  down  stream  ;  and,  as  it 
nears  the  largest  root,  there  is  the  flash  of  a  fish 
swifter  than  that  of  the  lightning,  if  it  be  possible, 
and  the  bait  is  seized.  Don't  hesitate  —  strike  ! 
There  you  have  him  !  and  the  next  moment  he 
swings  out  in  the  air  a  good  quarter-pounder.  Do 
you  wish  to  preserve  the  coloring  of  this  very 
handsome  specimen  to  show  the  folks  at  home .? 
Well,  kill  the  fish  as  I  instructed  you  when  speak- 
ing of  sucker  fishing,  by  pressing  the  ball  of  the 
thumb  against  the  roof  of  its  mouth,  and  snapping 
the  vertebra  ;  and  here  is  a  piece  of  fine  tissue 
paper.  Always  carry  some  with  you  ;  it  occupies 
but  little  space  in  your  pocket,  and  if  it  be  closely 
wrapped  round  a  trout,  will  cling  by  reason  of  the 
natural  moisture  of  the  fish  so  tight  as  to  exclude 
all  air  and  most  of  the  light ;  and  so  you  will  find 
when  you  get  home  and  wash  it  off,  your  fish  is  as 
bright  spotted  and  handsome  as  when  it  first  came 
from  the  stream. 

Fish  carefully,  especially  in  the  spring,  all  the 
shallows,  and  most  carefully  those  near  to  holes 
and  trouty  nooks.     After  the  spawning  season  the 


6o  SPRING  ANGLING 

fish  retire  to  the  deeper  water,  wherever  they  can 
find  it,  for  the  winter,  and  emerge  in  spring  to 
seek  food  and  to  increase  their  muscular  strength 
by  engaging  with  the  swifter  currents  of  the  run- 
let. Ah,  here  we  arrive  at  a  piece  of  thick  alder 
swamp  which  almost  hides  the  brook.  Shall  you 
fish  it  t  Why,  certainly.  It  may  be  almost  im- 
possible to  reach  every  likely  looking  spot,  but 
you  must  by  no  means  pass  this  by.  Right  down 
between  these  branches  lies  a  trout  for  sure. 
Take  your  rod,  patiently  shorten  the  line  by  wind- 
ing in  till  only  a  yard  remains  free  from  the  tip ; 
now  roll  the  rod  round,  and  so  wind  up  the  line  on 
the  tip  till  you  can  pass  it  and  the  baited  hook 
through  the  matted  branches.  Now  carefully  turn 
your  rod  the  reverse  way ;  that  is,  unwind  the 
line  on  the  tip,  and,  being  very  expectant,  drop 
it  gently  near  that  cavernous  root.  Ha,  another  ! 
do»'t  give  any  line  at  all.  He  is  the  best  fish  of  all  ; 
simply  hold  your  rod  point  up,  and  let  him  kick. 
Your  tackle  will  stand  it.  Now  draw  him  through 
as  you  best  can  ;  and  to  do  it  you  must,  I  fear,  spoil 
your  chances  of  another  fish,  because  of  your  eager 
trampling  to  get  your  half-pound  trout.  Well, 
there  is  always,  even  with  old  anglers,  a  first  day's 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  6 1 

excitability  of  nerves ;  and  the  next  time  you  get  a 
fish  in  just  this  way,  you  will  probably  basket  him 
without  scaring  the  others  sure  to  be  in  the  pool 
also.  Remember  this,  and  it  is  one  of  the  axioms, 
—  the  best  fish  are  in  the  best  places,  and  where 
there  is  one  good,  i.e.,  large,  fish,  there  is  likely  to 
be  more. 

Now,  in  the  next  meadow  is  a  corduroy  cart- 
bridge,  and  beneath  it  there  is  sure  to  be  fish  of 
some  kind,  —  small,  medium,  or  large,  and  perhaps 
all  three.  Put  on  another  worm,  and  let  us  try  it. 
What,  you  can't  get  the  old  one  off  because  of  the 
bristle  at  the  top  of  the  hook }  Pull  it  right  up 
on  to  the  gut-snell,  then  ;  now  double  the  snell,  and 
draw  the  worm  through  the  closed  thumb  and 
finger.  That  gets  it  off,  doesn't  it  .■*  There  are 
more  ways  of  killing  a  cat  than  by  simply  hanging 
it,  you  know.  Here's  our  cart-bridge,  and  we  stand 
a  rod  or  more  above  it.  Now  crawl  to  a  firm  spot 
on  the  bank  about  twelve  feet  away  from  it,  and 
draw  out  about  fifteen  feet  of  your  line,  so  that 
you  may  reach  some  three  feet  under  it  with  your 
bait.  How  are  you  going  to  get  your  bait  there  1 
Wait  a  bit ;  I'll  show  you.  Here  is  a  flat  chip  of 
wood  about  as  big  as  the  palm  of  your  hand.     I  lay 


62  SPJiING  ANGLING 

it  down,  and,  putting  the  baited  hook  on  it  near 
the  middle,  I  coil  the  line  in  loose  coils  around  on 
the  chip.  Now  launch  it  on  the  stream,  so  that  it 
floats  down  the  middle  ;  hold'  up  your  rod,  and  guide 
it,  which  you  can  easily  do  as  the  line  uncoils. 
Be  alert ;  it  is  getting  near  the  end  of  the  tether  : 
for  at  once,  as  the  chip  passes  from  under  the  bait 
and  it  falls  on  the  water,  I  expect  that  you  will 
get  a  bite.  You  cannot  see  the  chip  or  bait,  but 
—  hurrah,  you  can  feel  the  hooked  fish  !  Draw 
him  up  quickly  ;  he  is  not  the  largest  to  be  found 
there.  Search  for  another  chip,  and  by  the  time  it 
is  all  arranged  there  will  be  yet  a  bigger  trout 
waiting.  In  summer  a  leaf  is  as  good  as  a  chip  of 
wood,  and  sometimes  neither  is  needed,  and  a 
piece  of  quill  or  white  stick  of  wood  will  act  quite 
well  as  a  float,  or  bob,  to  carry  your  bait  to  the  spot 
you  are  aiming  at. 

If  you  are  fishing  a  brook  such  as  the  one  we 
have  been  "  supposin',''  and  have  a  friend  with 
you,  you  must  not  have  him  alongside  you,  or 
even  within  talking  distance,  as  I  have  been ;  but 
if  possible,  one  fish  up  and  the  other  down,  both 
returning  to  meet  at  the  point  from  whence  you 
started.     If,  however,  you  want  to  fish  down,  pull 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  63 

Straws  to  see  which  one  shall  start  first ;  and  if 
you  lose,  sit  patiently  down  till  your  friend  has 
got  at  least  fifteen  minutes'  start.  These  fifteen 
minutes  allow  the  fish  to  settle  again,  and  is  little 
enough.  I  prefer  half  an  hour  on  much-fished 
streams.  Then  go  to  work,  and  fish  slowly,  and 
do  not  miss  any  spot  because  it  is  diilficult. 

If  you  have  to  fish  ///  stream,  additional  care 
must  be  exercised  to  approach  the  water  quietly, 
—  and  don't  fall  into  the  error  which  nearly  every 
novice  seems  to  be  unable  to  avoid  ;  namely,  that 
of  walking  a  piece  and  then  fishing  down.  Cast 
your  bait  with  a  swinging  motion  ///  always,  and 
you  will  find  quite  as  many,  and  possibly  more, 
taken  than  if  you  used  a  long  line  doitm.  In  up- 
stream, and  sometimes  in  down-stream,  fishing, 
especially  if  the  wind  be  blowing  so  as  to  carry 
your  line  away  from  where  you  want  it  to  go,  it 
is  necessary  at  times  to  use  a  sinker.  In  that 
case  a  No.  i  shot  split  will  be  ordinarily  suffi- 
cient. It  should  be  pinched  on  at  a  foot  from  the 
bait. 

In  worm-bait  fishing  in  large  waters  —  rivers 
or  wide  brooks  —  where  large  fish  exist,  a  double 
hook  tackle  is  sometimes  used ;  with  this  the  bait 


64  SPRING  ANGLING 

can  be  cast  somewhat  as  the  artificial  fly  ;  and  it 
is  a  very  sure  hooking  arrangement,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  for  general  use  unless  the  trout  run 
large.  Ordinarily  the  medium-sized  long-shanked 
Kirby-Carlisle  hook  is  most  suitable. 

Other  natural  baits  may  often  be  used  with 
success  in  trout  fishing  in  spring  if  they  do  not 
seem  to  care  for  the  worm  ;  though  at  this  season 
the  worm  is  far  and  away  the  best  bait,  and  can 
always  be  got  by  the  waterside  if  you  run  short 
of  your  cleansed  garden  worms.  In  some  streams 
the  fresh-water  shrimp  is  to  be  found,  and  two 
should  be  impaled  on  a  rather  smaller  hook  than 
that  in  use  for  worm-fishing.  You  will  find  them 
under  stones.  Then,  there  is  the  larvae  of  the 
stone  flies  or  the  case  or  caddis  insects.  You 
take  one  of  these  and  squeeze  it,  and  instantly  the 
little  black  head  of  the  creature  pops  out  of  the 
case  in  which  it  dwells.  The  latter  looks  exactly 
like  a  bit  of  twig  or  stick  on  the  gravel,  and  its 
dress  shows  another  of  nature's  benevolent  ways 
of  hiding  its  creatures  from  observation  by  mak- 
ing them  precisely  like  their  surroundings.  The 
grub  or  worm  out  of  its  case  is  like  a  maggot,  and 
is   a  most   killing  lure.     Every  brook,  it  is  true, 


BAIT-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  65 

does  not  possess  this  larvae,  but  most  waters  con- 
taining trout  do  so.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  well  to 
search  for  them  if  the  fish  are  known  to  be  plenty 
and  are  not  biting  at  the  worm. 

I  have  caught  trout  with  other  lures  odder  than 
these.  Once  up  in  the  wilds  of  New  Brunswick, 
Canada,  whilst  camping  with  a  friend  on  the 
Magaguadavic  River  (pronounced  Magadavick), 
our  guide  surprised  us  by  thus  commenting  on 
the  big  one  and  two  pound  trout  we  were  frying  ^ 
for  supper  :  "  These  trout  ain't  no  use  fer  eating  ; 
I'd  sooner  hev  corned  beef,"  —  we  thought  them 
(and  they  were)  most  palatable,  —  "but  I'll  take 
yer  to-morrow  where  the  trout  ain't  larger  than 
herrings,  and  black  as  yer  hat,  and  they  won't  take 
nuthin'  but  bits  of  chubs  fer  bait."  I  stared  at 
Davis  incredulously ;  but  he  was  serious,  and  on 
the  morrow  it  proved  as  he  had  said.  The  water 
where  they  lived  proved  to  be  a  sluggish,  almost 
dead  little  slough,  or  "  sloo,"  running  out  of  a 
swamp  thick  with  moss  and  decaying  vegetation, 
and  the  water  was  of  India-ink  blackness  (of  a 
deep  rich  brown  black),  and  we  used  just  such 
tackle  as  I  have  been  describing,  baited  with 
pieces  of  chub,  or  even  pieces  of  their  brothers 


66  SFJ^ING   ANGLING  " 

and  sisters,  as  we  discovered  when  our  supply  of 
chubs  ran  out.  They  were  black  all  over,  except 
on  the  belly,  which  was  silvery  white  ;  and  on  the 
dark  sides  could  be  faintly  seen  the  customary 
red  spots,  only  they  were  of  the  deepest  blood- 
crimson  color.  The  largest  we  caught  was  not 
one-quarter  of  a  pound,  and  I  think  we  must  have 
taken  a  hundred  out  of  a  space  of  water  not  four 
yards  square. 

.^  I  do  not  recommend  the  use  of  pieces  of  fish 
for  brook-trout  in  this  country,  but  I  have  re- 
peatedly caught  them  with  the  light  belly  fin,  and 
with  the  eye  from  another  fish. 

In  late  spring,  when  the  water  begins  to  clear 
and  become  low,  and  the  sunny  days  return, 
maggot-bait  fishing  is  sometimes  most  effective, 
and  it  may  be  practised  at  all  times  through  the 
summer  when  the  water  is  low  and  the  weather 
too  warm  for  worm-fishing  to  be  of  any  use. 
Any  boy  can  breed  the  maggots  without  the 
process  being  offensive,  if  he  will  follow  out  the 
following  instructions  :  Obtain  a  beef's  liver  from 
the  butcher,  and  slash  it  with  a  knife  in  half  a 
dozen  places ;  put  it  into  an  old  tin  pail  free 
from   holes,  and  cover   it  with  a  lid   so  arranged 


BAIT-FISHING   FOR    TROUT  6^ 

that  the  parent  blow-flies  or  blue-bottles  can  get 
in,  but  that  no  cat  can  get  the  liver  out.  Let 
it  remain  in  the  sun  until  it  has  been  very  freely 
"blown;"  then  remove  it  to  a  shady  spot,  and 
cover  it  up  from  the  rain  or  other  disturbing  in- 
fluence. In  a  few  days  more  or  less,  according  to 
the  weather,  the  eggs  will  hatch,  and  the  young 
maggots  will  begin  to  feed  and  grow.  In  a  week 
they  will  be  full-grown,  and  the  liver  all  eaten,  or 
nearly  so.  You  must  now,  with  a  forked  stick,  lift 
out  what  remains  of  this,  and  bury  it ;  and  then 
turn  your  maggots  out  into  an  earthen  pan  or  jar 
half  filled  with  dry  mould  and  sand.  Place  them 
in  the  cellar  for  coolness  —  there  is  now  nothing 
offensive  in  them  —  for  twenty-four  hours,  and 
then  turn  them  into  fresh  bran.  In  a  few  hours 
they  will  be  white  as  ivory,  and  a  most  tempting 
bait  for  trout.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  throw  in  a  few 
every  now  and  then  in  advance  of  you  as  you  walk 
down  the  stream.  They  should  be  placed  on  the 
hook  as  in  Fig.  32  (p.  68). 

Brook  fishing  with  bait  is  the  best  apprentice- 
ship possible  for  the  young  angler,  and  it  may 
be  extended  to  river  and  lakes  with  ever-increasing 
confidence.     Grasshopper  fishing  for  the  same  fish 


68 


SPRING   ANGLING 


comes  later  in  the  year,  and  will  be  referred  to  at 
the  appropi  iate  time. 


Fig.  32.  —  Maggots  baited  according  to  Size  of  Hooft. 

Let  the  young  fisherman  never  forget  that  fine 
and  far  off  —  which  means  light  fine  tackle,  and 
fishing  as  far  away  from  the  fish  as  possible  — 
is  a  secret  as  well  worth  practising  to-day  as  in 
Walton's  time,  —  two  hundred  and  more  years 
ago,  when  the  axiom  was  first  put  in  print. 


PART   11 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


CHAPTER    IV 

FISHING    FOR    THE    SUN-FISH    AND    OTHER 
"BOYS'    FISHES" 

Distinctively  a  boys'  fish  is  the  sun-fish,  or 
"pumpkin-seed  ;"  and  when  the  other  game  fishes, 
trout,  bass,  etc.,  are  no  longer  plentiful,  this  de- 
spised little  gamin  amongst  fishes  will  be  as  highly 
esteemed  by  anglers  as  are  some  of  the  "  coarse  " 
fishes  by  Englishmen  over  the  water.  Everybody 
knows  the  sun-fish,  bold  in  biting,  and  fearlessly 
fighting  to  the  last  on  the  hook.  On  fine  tackle 
they  give  quite  good  sport  ;  and  I  have  frequently 
quit  fishing  for  the  large-mouthed  black  bass  and 
pickerel  in  some  warm-water  lake  in  summer,  be- 
cause I  preferred  taking  the  bold-biting  and  vora- 
cious sun-fish. 

The  food  of  these  little  fish  consists  of  the 
Crustacea  and  larvae  of  the  water,  and  they  will 
take  almost  anything  a  trout  will  feed  on.  Worms, 
maggots,  dobsons,  grasshoppers,  and  crickets  are 
their  favorite  baits  ;  and  as  these  are  easily  pro- 

71 


72 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


curable,  the  boy  angler  has 
no  difficulty  in  providing  a 
good  string  of  sun-fish  if  he 
knows  ever  so  little  how  to 
fish.      They  will  also  take 
the  artificial  fly  ;  and  much 
fun    have   I    had   with   them 
with    the    "  brown     hackle," 
which  will  be  described  far- 
ther on. 

The    tackle    most   suitable 
for  these  small  fry  is  a  light  bam- 
boo cane  pole,  jointed  if  you  like 
and  can  afford  it ;  and  if  not,  in 
one  length  of    about    ten   feet, 
with  guides  and  a  reel,  as  direct- 
ed for  trout.      Let  your  line  be 
a  fine  one,  dressed  as  for  trout, 
and   do  not   omit  to  have  a  yard 
of    medium    fine    gut    for    leader. 
Also  snell  your  hook,  which  should 
be   a   No.    5   (Fig.   33)   on  moder- 
ately   fine    gut ;    for   though    the 
Fig.  33.  sun-fish   is   a  bold  biter,  you  will 

Sproat  Hooks.    Show- 
ing  exact  size  of    find   that   you  catch  two  fish  with 

each  number.  -^ 


o^> 


FISHING  FOR    THE  SUN- FISH  73 

fine  tackle,  where  only  one  will  respond  to  the 
"  pole  and  cord  "  style  of  equipment. 

In  sun-fish  angling  I  always  use  a  float,  or 
bob ;  and  a  very  good  one  for  this  purpose  can 
be  made  of  a  turkey  quill  feather,  as  I  directed 
you  when  speaking  of  sucker  fishing.  Split  shot 
should  be  closed  on  the  leader,  to  sink  the  float 
so  that  three-quarters  of  an  inch  rises  above  the 
surface  of  the  water;  and  so  adjusted  as  to  lift 
the  bait  about  six  inches  from  the  bottom  of 
the  water.  You  are  then  in  a  fair  way  to  catch 
fish. 

By  the  way,  there  is  a  rough-and-ready  way  to 
split  your  shot  I  don't  think  I  told  you  of.  Get 
out  your  jackknife,  make  a  slight  circular  inden- 
tation in  a  piece  of  hard  wood,  —  the  top  of  a  post 
will  do,  —  lay  the  shot  in  this,  and  simply  cut 
the  lead  halfway  through.  All  sizes  of  shot,  from 
buck-shot  to  No.  5's,  should  be  split  and  kept 
ready  in  a  pill-box ;  and  the  preparation  of  these 
is  a  good  job  for  a  rainy  afternoon. 

Having  selected  the  spot  you  intend  to  fish,  be 
quiet ;  for  though  these  fish  are  not  easily  scared, 
you  want  to  be  light,  and  not  boisterous,  in  your 
movements.     Bait  the  hook  with  a  small  wriggling 


74  SUMMER  ANGLING 

worm  or  grasshopper,  or  either  of  the  other  bait 
I  mentioned,  and  gently  swing  it  out.  Presently 
you  will  see  by  the  tremulous  motion  of  the  bob 
that  a  sun-fish  is  biting  —  then  down  it  goes  be- 
neath the  surface.  A  sharp  strike  fixes  the  hook 
firmly ;  and  now  you  have  quite  a  fight  on  hand 
before  the  plucky  little  fellow  gives  up.  Size  for 
size,  he  is  little  inferior  to  the  trout  in  this  respect, 
though  I  am  aware  "  comparisons  are  odorous,"  as 
Mrs.  Malaprop  would  say.  A  very  good  variation 
of  the  tackle  is  thus  made.  Place  the  split  shot 
or  sinkers  (sufficient,  of  course,  to  "  cock  "  the 
float  or  bob)  at  the  end  of  the  leader.  Now  tie 
one  of  the  snelled  hooks  at  a  distance  of  six  inches 
above  the  sinker,  at  right  angles,  and  above  this, 
at  a  distance  of  another  six  inches,  tie  on  another 
hook.  You  can  thus  use  two  kinds  of  bait,  and 
frequently  catch  two  fish  at  a  time.  Should  you 
get  two  half-pounders  hooked,  you  have  got  a  con- 
test indeed  that  will  occupy  all  your  wits  and  re- 
sources for  a  few  minutes.  Especially  as  I  urgently 
insist  you  must  not  lift  the  fish  from  the  water 
until  they  have  had  their  struggle  out.  Of  course 
if  you,  on  the  other  hand,  insist  on  doing  so,  you 
must  use  very  strong  tackle,  or  be  broken  unex- 


FISHING  FOR    THE  SUN-FISH  75 

pectedly  at  some  odd  time  when  a  larger  and 
stronger  fish  is  visiting  you. 

The  sun-fish  has  a  bad  habit  of  stripping  the 
worm  from  the  hook.  I  know  of  no  cure  for  this  ; 
but  if  you  watch  carefully,  and  learn  their  methods 
of  biting,  you  will  soon  be  able  to  time  your  strike 
so  that  this  does  not  happen  once  in  ten  bites. 

These  little  fish  are  very  good  pan  fish  in  early 
summer,  but  become  "  wormy  "  as  the  water  gets 
warmer.  The  black  spots  with  which  they  are 
then  sometimes  covered  is  caused  by  the  cyst  or 
cell  of  a  minute  "  worm  "  or  larvae  parasite.  Do 
you  not  remember  that :  — 

"  Big  fleas  have  little  fleas 

Upon  their  backs  to  bite  'em, 
And  little  fleas  have  lesser  fleas. 
And  so  on  ad  infinitiwi  /  " 

Under  the  heading  of  sun-fish  there  are  many 
members  of  the  family,  all  to  be  taken  as  I  have 
described,  or  to  be  gotten  with  the  artificial  fly. 
I  do  not  go  into  detail  anent  the  fly  at  this  time, 
as  that  branch  of  fishing  will  be  dealt  with  ex- 
haustively when  I  come  to  hold  forth  on  trout  fly- 
fishing ;   and  any  one  who   can   catch   trout  with 


'j6  SUMMER  ANGLING 

the  fly  can  of  a  surety  catch  "pumpkin-seeds"  by 
the  same  method. 

The  other  members  of  the  sun-fish  family,  be- 
sides the  well-known  Lepomis  gibbosiiSy  are  the 
long-eared  sun-fish  {L.  megalotis),  known  through- 
out the  Mississippi  Valley  and  south-westward  to 
the  Rio  Grande,  and  in  the  north-west,  and  plen- 
tiful in  Indiana  and  Illinois ;  the  yellow  belly,  or 
bream  (Z.  auritns),  found  plentifully  east  of  the 
AUeghanies  from  Maine  to  Florida,  and  also  in 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas ;  the  blue  gill  {L.  pal- 
lidus),  the  most  widely  diffused  of  all ;  the  green 
sun-fish  (Z.  cyanellus),  found  in  all  waters  between 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  AUeghanies,  and 
several  more  not  necessary  to  be  specially  enu- 
merated. They  are  all  to  be  caught  with  the 
angle-worm,  and  are  all  "boys'  fishes." 

One  step  above  the  sun-fishes,  towards  the  game 
fish  properly  so  called,  we  find  the  rock  bass  (or 
red  eye).  This  fish  is  fond  of  quiet,  rocky  pools, 
and  is  a  fiercely '  preying  and  pluckily  fighting 
member  of  the  great  bass  family.  He  takes 
almost  everything,  from  a  piece  of  raw  meat  to 
a  black  beetle,  and  is  best  caught  with  rather 
larger  hooks  and  stronger  tackle  than  his  brother 


FISHING  FOR    THE  SUN-FISH  7/ 

the  sun-fish.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the 
"  crappie,"  so  beloved  of  the  youth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  Small  fish  are  a  good  bait  for  these, 
and  also  for  the  rock  bass ;  and  I  have  caught  the 
latter  in  great  plenty  in  the  upper  Hudson  on 
"dobsons,"  —  the  larvae  of  the  coiydalus  cornutns, 
or  helgramite  fly. 

To  fish  for  the  yellow  perch  is  yet  one  step 
higher  in  angling  promotion,  and  very  nearly  ap- 
proaches the  art  of  catching  the  black  basses.  In 
all  waters  inhabited  by  them,  the  yellow  perch  is 
a  beautiful  fish,  and  differs  but  slightly  from  its 
European  brother  of  the  same  name.  Given  cool 
water  and  plenty  of  food,  it  grows  to  a  fair  size, 
and  is  then  a  brave  fighter ;  and  if  taken  before 
it  spawns,  is  succulent  and  even  delicious  as  a 
table  fish.  One  day  last  August  (1893),  Mr. 
Edward  Newbury  and  myself  took  a  hundred  and 
twenty  yellow  perch  out  of  Summit  Lake,  Wash- 
ington County,  New  York,  weighing  just  eighty- 
six  pounds,  and  we  only  fished  eight  hours.  These 
were  all  caught  out  of  thirty  feet  of  water,  and 
some  of  them  went  one  pound  in  weight.  Of 
course  in  fishing  for  them  it  was  necessary  to 
take  off  the  bob  and  use  a  light  sinker,  striking 


78  SUMMER   ANGLING 

sharply  because  of  the  great  depth.  Our  bait  was 
worms.  Perch  also  take  a  fly,  the  making  of  which 
will  be  explained  in  the  chapter  on  fly-fishing  for 
trout. 

The  white  perch  {Morone  Americana)  is  another 
fish  chiefly  found  in  the  estuaries  of  rivers  in  the 
brackish  waters,  and  are  justly  much  esteemed. 
They  may  be  caught  with  the  same  tackle  and  in 
the  same  way  as  the  sun-fishes  and  perch,  and  are 
to  be  highly  recommended  for  their  toothsome- 
ness  and  the  sport  they  give.  They  are  generally 
most  plentiful  in  early  summer,  and  are  said  to 
feed  on  the  ova  of  shad,  as  these  fish  are  ascend- 
ing the  rivers. 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  79 


CHAPTER   V 

FLY-FISHING   FOR    TROUT 

No  one  will  question  my  opinion  that  fly-fishing 
for  trout  is  the  very  highest  form  of  angling.  It 
may  be  defined  as  fishing  with  an  artificial  or 
hand-made  imitation  of  the  natural  flies  and  flying 
insects  (and  in  some  cases  of  jumping  and  crawl- 
ing creatures,  as  in  the  case  of  crickets,  grasshop- 
pers, and  grubs).  In  its  practice  only  the  neatest 
and  finest  of  tackle  is  ordinarily  used,  the  chief 
reason  for  this  being  the  absence  of  all  handling 
of  living  baits,  and  the  necessity  for  skilful  methods 
in  order  to  give  the  lure  a  semblance  of  what  other 
baits  do  or  have  possessed,  but  which  this  has  not ; 
namely,  life  and  movement. 

In  order  that  the  fly  may  be  cast  lightly,  as  if 
it  fell  accidentally  on  the  water,  it  is  necessary  in 
this  form  of  fishing  to  use  a  rod  possessing  pli- 
ancy, strength,  and  lightness  —  that  is  necessary  if 
you  would  be  ranked  as  a  true  fly-fisherman.  Of 
course  you  can  fish  with  a  bean-pole,  as  for  suck- 


8o  SUMMER  ANGLING 

ers,  if  you  choose,  —  this  is  a  free  country,  —  but 
there  is  no  sense  of  fitness  in  doing  so.  You 
wouldn't  write  a  letter  home  with  a  broom-handle  ; 
and  so  I  will  assume  that  you  desire  to  have 
tackle  befitting  the  aristocratic  fish  you  are  pur- 
suing, and  that  you  are  desirous  of  knowing  how 
to  use  it.  In  such  a  case,  without  further  preface, 
we  will  consider  the  rod. 

Fly-rods  for  trout  are  of  two  orders,  the  single 
and  double  handled,  —  meaning  for  use  by  one  or 
two  hands.  The  former  are  chiefly  in  use,  and 
only  differ  in  that  the  latter  are  longer  and  heav- 
ier, and  have  handles  so  made  that  both  hands  can 
grasp  the  rod. 

The  single-handed  trout-rod  is  ordinarily  made 
of  cane  glued  together  in  sections,  and  whipped  at 
short  intervals,  and  of  solid  woods,  such  as  lance- 
wood,  bethabara,  greenheart,  etc.  The  cane  rods 
are  the  best ;  but  they  must  be  made  of  the  very 
best  material,  and  fitted  with  infinite  skill  and 
care,  or  they  are  worthless,  as  they  break  easily, 
or  come  apart  when  you  least  expect  it ;  and  as 
the  best  materials  and  workmanship  are  costly, 
my  boy  readers  must,  I  presume,  be  content  with 
the  other  kind.     A  solid  lancewood  or  greenheart 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  8 1 

makes  up  into  a  capital  rod,  and  is  far  less  costly ; 
and  to  give  you  an  idea  how  both  rods  will  last 
with  care,  I  may  say  that  I  possess  one  of  each 
wood  which  I  have  used  eleven  years,  and  they 
are  of  my  own  making.  A  fair  lancewood  fly-rod 
can  be  got  for  from  five  to  ten  dollars  from  the 
tackle  stores  ;  but  suppose  my  boy  reader  goes 
to  work  and  makes  one  !  I  will  take  one  of  my 
own  made  rods  as  a  pattern,  and  we  will  make  it 
together. 

It  is  understood  to  be  a  difficult  matter  to  ex- 
plain a  mechanical  process  on  paper  ;  but  if  the 
following  instructions  are  followed,  I  do  not  see 
why  there  should  be  any  failure.  Of  course  the 
beginner,  especially  if  unused  to  carpenter's  tools, 
will  find  some  trouble  await  him  ;  but  "  if  you 
don't  at  first  succeed,  try,  try,  and  try  again,"  is 
all  I  can  say  to  you  to  lighten  your  task. 

Now,  no  matter  what  you  want  to  build,  never 
omit  a  plan  of  it  to  work  from.  Therefore  let  us 
make  a  plan  of  the  fly-rod  we  are  about  to  con- 
struct. The  one  before  us  is  just  ten  feet  two 
inches  over  all  in  length.  Now  take  a  sheet  of 
tin,  and  draw  a  diagram  with  an  awl  and  rule  or 


82  •  SUMMER  ANGLING 

Straight-edge,  like  Fig.  34  ;  that  is,  with  all  the 
lines  and  figures  shown  and  of  exactly  same  size. 
The  handle  is  to  be  ten  inches  long,  so  you  deduct 
that  from  the  full  length  of  the  rod,  leaving  one 
hundred  and  twelve  inches.  Now  mark  off  the 
figure  into  eight  sections,  and  let  the  widest  be 
one-half  inch,  and  the  tip  one-sixteenth  inch.  The 
rod  is  taper,  just  as  shown ;  that  is  to  say,  at  every 


i 

i 

1     - 

1                1 

I 

1 
>- 

i 

1                    .i 

■■"1 

1 

ocrr: 

1 

' 

' T— 

j            ■ 

1       - 

J 

..        ,of  2    i^ 

Fig.  34.  —  Plan  cut  out  of  Tin  or  Brass  Plate  for  Lancewood  Rod. 

part  the  rod  is  to  be  just  as  thick  through  as  the 
diagram  represents.  For  example,  if  the  end  of 
your  rod  is  to  be  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  at  just 
half-way  between  it  and  the  tip,  or  fifty-six  inches, 
it  will  be  one-quarter  inch  ;  and  the  thickness  the 
rod  should  be  at  any  point  can  be  determined  by 
measurement  at  once.  But  that  is  not  all  the 
advantage    to    be    gained.     Having    marked   the 


FL  Y-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  '  %l 

sheet  of  tin  or  thin  brass  (the  latter  is  best),  just 
as  shown,  get  your  hardware  merchant,  or  do  it 
yourself,  to  cut  out  and  file  true  the  tapering  space 
between  the  two  outer  lines,  leaving  it  exactly  as 
shown  at  Fig.  34,  with  the  space  cut  out.  Now 
you  have  the  plan  of  your  rod  and  a  gauge  to 
guide  you  in  tapering  it  as  you  plane  and  work 
the  wood  into  shape.  For  example,  say  you  are 
working  on  the  tip  joint  of  your  rod,  and  you  want 
to  know  how  thick'  it  should  be  seven  inches  from 
the  extreme  tip.  You  just  place  it  in  the  slit,  and 
if  it  fits  closely  half-way  between  o  and  14°,  it  is 
right ;  for  the  diagram  is  divided  into  eight  sec- 
tions of  fourteen  inches,  and  seven  inches  are  half 
of  each  section. 

(Before  reading  farther,  go  over  the  above  again, 
until  you  fully  understand  the  whole  thing.  It  is 
perfectly  simple,  if  you  once  grasp  it,  and  is  indis- 
pensable for  you  to  know  about.) 

The  tools  required  are  neither  costly  nor  hard 
to  procure.  A  good  plane,  a  good  wood  file  ;  a 
piece  of  old  saw  steel,  some,  broken  glass  and 
sandpaper,  and  a  jackknife  and  gimlet  are  really 
all  you  want  with  which  to  make  your  first  fly-rod. 
I  made  mine  with  just  those  tools,  and  no  more. 


84  SUMMER   ANGLING 

As  you  become  proficient,  you  can  extend  your 
possessions,  and  get  several  iron  planes  and  more 
files,  etc.i 

The  rod  is  to  be  in  three  pieces,  so  the  larger  or 
longer  joint  should  be  of  3  ft.  8  in.  (for  3  ft.  6  in.) 
in  length,  and  three-fourths  inch  square ;  the  two 
other  joints  will  be  3  ft.  6  in.  (for  3  ft.  4  in.)  each 
in  length,  and  may  be  of  half-inch  and  quarter- 
inch  stuff  square.  Pick  out  some  well-seasoned 
and  straight-grained  wood,  and  you  can  then  go 
to  work  as  follows  :  — 

Into  your  work-bench  drive  a  short  hard-wood 
bolt,  and  bore  holes  to  correspond  in  the  ends  of 
each  of  your  rod  pieces.  This  is  to  enable  you  to 
plane  them  from  you  ;  and  you  will  find  this  the 
best  way  always.  Now  commence  to  plane  the 
pieces  taper,  keeping  them  square  until  they  just 
fit  the  gauge  at  the  proper  places  on  it ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  but-end  of  the  large  piece  must  be 
just  small  enough  to  go  in  the  end  of  the  plane,  or 
measure  one-half  inch,  and  its  other  end  must  go 
in  at  the  third  14-inch  section;  then  the  but  of 
the  next  just  fits  the  third  14-inch  section  and  the 

1  You  can  procure  your  wood  from  A.  B.  Shepley  &  Sons,  503  Com- 
merce Street,  Philadelphia  ;  either  lancewood  or  greenheart. 


FLY-FISHING  FOR   TROUT 


85 


sixth  14-inch  section,  and  the  tip  or  top  joint  at 
its  largest  part  fits  this  sixth  14-inch  section,  and 
the  tip  fits  the  end,  or  is  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch 
in  diameter. 

Having  got  it  to  fit  in  the  square,  you  must  now 
take  two  pieces  of  square -edged  hard  wood  of  four- 
foot  length  each,  and  take  a  strip  off  one  square 
edge  of  each,  and  then  nail  them  together,  as 
shown   in  the  diagram  (Fig.    35).      Now  lay  your 


Fig.  35. —Section  of  Wood  Strips  to  aid  in  Planing, 

Strip  in  this  groove,  and  plane  the  four  edges 
down  so  that  each  joint  forms  an  octagon,  or 
eight-sided  stick  of  wood,  and  be  particular  that  it 
is  according  to  the  gauge.  Next  comes  the  file. 
Now,  the  file  must  be  what  is  known  as  a  mill-file, 
and  you  must  always  use  it  at  right  angles  to  your 
work  ;  that  is,  crosswise.  With  this  rub  off  the 
eight  corners  of  the  octagon,  and  you  will  see  you 


86 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


are  quickly  progressing  towards  a  round  form  for 
the  rod  joint.  At  this  point,  the  utility  of  the 
piece  of  old  saw  comes  in.  Get  a  round  file,  and 
file  it  to  the  shapes  shown  (Fig.  36),  leaving  three 
sides  plain  for  ordinary  scraping ;  and  you  will  find 
this  tool,  when  good  and  sharp,  is  a  great  help. 
If,  however,  you  cannot  get  or  make  this  simple 
tool,  you  must  depend  upon  your  pieces  of  broken 
glass  and  file  and  sandpaper  ;  and,  by  dint  of  fre- 
quent measuring  and   much  persevering  rubbing, 


Fig.  36. 
Piecs  of  Old  Saw  filed  for  Scraper. 


you  will    finally  get    it    round,  and   of    the    right 
diameter  for  each  joint. 

The  handle  of  the  rod  must  be  larger,  of  course, 
than  the  end  of  the  largest  joint,  so  that  it  fits  the 
hand  comfortably.  It  may  be  made  of  sumach,  or 
some  soft  wood,  as  you  please  ;  and  if  you  cannot 
get  it  turned  round  for  you  by  some  carpenter  of 
your  acquaintance,  you  must  get  it  bored  about 
three  inches  down  whilst  square,  and  work  it  down 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT 


'87 


to  about  three-fourths  inch  diameter  in  the  round, 
as  you  did  the  rod.  At  the  end  of  it,  it  must 
be  narrowed  to  receive  the  reel-fitting  (Fig.  37), 
and  the  place  for  the  hand  must  be  swelled,  as 


Fig.  37.  —  Reel  Seat. 


shown  (Fig.  38).  You  can  drive  the  large  end  of 
your  rod  into  it  at  once,  cementing  it  with  Le- 
Page's  liquid  glue. 


Fig.  38.  —  Handle  of  Rod  with  Reel  Seat  in  Place. 

The  ferrules  (Fig.  39)  next  demand  your  atten- 
tion. Obtain  from  Shipley's  a  set  to  fit  the  joints 
of  your  rod,  and  fix  them  on  in  this  way.      Having 


Fig.  39.  — Ferrule —  "Male  "  and  "Female." 

got  the  wood  so  that  it  will  go  easily  into  the  fer- 
rules, wind  it  with  some  sewing-silk  in  wide  coils, 
and  saturate  with  the  glue.  Now  place  the  fer- 
rule on  the  end,  and  push  it  home.  Do  not  put  a 
pin  into  the  ferrule  to  keep  it  on  the  rod  ;  that 


8S  SUMMER  ANGLING 

would  weaken  the  latter.  If  the  ferrules  work  too 
tight,  a  little  rotten  stone  and  oil  rubbed  over 
them  will  render  them  freer. 

The  guides  are  now  the  next  consideration. 

Now,  the  guides  of  a  fly-rod  are  usually  of  the 
kind  shown  at  Fig.  40,  and  are  whipped  in  place, 
usually  during  the  process  of  winding  the  rod. 
This  process  consists  in  winding  coils  of  silk  vary- 
ing  from    one-quarter  inch    to    one  thirty-second 


Fig.  40.  —  Guide  Rings  in  Place  on  Rod. 

0000  00 


Fig.  40.  —  Guide  Rings  Apart. 

inch     in     breadth,    at    intervals    up    the    rod,   to 
strengthen  it  and  increase  its  resiliency. 

These  whippings  are  made  with  spool-silk,  to 
be  obtained  from  any  of  the  dry-goods  stores  ;  and 
it  should  be  waxed  with  the  wax  given  in  the 
chapter  on  sucker  fishing.  There  is  a  proper  way 
to  wind  a  rod,  and  it  is  as  follows  :  Having  waxed 
the  silk,  take  the  joint  in  the  left  hand,  with  the 


FLY-FISHING  FOR   TKOUT 


89 


end  towards  you  under  the  left  hand  ;  lay  the  silk 
on  the  rod  (Fig.  41),  and  turn  the  latter  till  the 
end  is  caught  under  the  first  coil  of  silk,  guiding 
the  latter  with  the  right   finger  and  thumb  ;  keep 


Fig.  41.  — Method  of  commencing  to  wind  a  Rod. 

turning  with  the  left  hand  from  you,  steadying 
the  other  end  of  the  joint  against  something,  —  a 
post  will  do,  —  and  so  continue  till  you  have  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  (if  it  be  the  large  end  of  the 


Fig.  42.  —Method  of  finishing  off  winding  with  "Invisible"  Knot. 

rod)  wound.  Now  make  the  invisible  knot  (Fig. 
42),  and  draw  it  tight  by  tightening  the  coils,  and, 
pulling  the  end  through,  cut  off  close,  and  it  is 


90  SUMMER  ANGLING 

done.  The  guides  need  putting  on  in  a  like  man- 
ner ;  and  with  a  little  practice  this  may  be  done  as 
neatly  as  in  the  rods  made  by  professionals. 

The  number  of  whippings  may  be  varied  to  suit 
your  fancy  ;  but  the  more  the  better  for  the  dura- 
bility of  your  rod.  There  should  be  at  least  two 
guides  on  the  lowest  or  largest  joint,  three  on 
the  next,  and  four  on  the   tip. 

Practically  the  rod  is  now  ready  for  varnishing, 
and  only  the  best  coachmaker's  varnish  should  be 
used.  It  is  best  to  give  it  two  or  three  coats  with 
a  camel's-hair  brush,  and  to  put  it  on  thin  (thin- 
ning with  turpentine),  taking  care  that  each  one 
dries  before  another  is  put  on.  Of  course  the 
smoother  and  more  finished  every  process  is,  the 
nicer  will  be  the  appearance  of  the  rod ;  and 
you  had  better  get  the  loan  of  a  good  shop-made 
rod,  which  will  remind  you  of  each  feature  as  you 
make  it. 

In  rod-making  (as  in  every  other  art)  practice 
makes  perfect,  and  if  you  do  not  satisfy  yourself  at 
first,  keep  trying ;  that  is  my  earnest  advice. 

The  reel  for  fly-fishing  cannot  be  made  at  home  ; 
you  must  save  up  and  buy  one.  The  Star  reels 
are    the    best    and   cheapest,   and   such   a  one   as 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  9 1 

shown  in  Fig  43,  called  the  "  Gogebic,"  costs  only 
a  small  amount,  and  will  answer  every  purpose. 
All  the  tackle  stores  keep  these  reels,  as  they  are 
standard. 

The  very  finest  reel  in  the  world  for  fly-fishing 
is  the  Automatic,  shown  in  Fig.  44  (p.  92).     This 


Fig.  43.  — The   "Gogebic"  Reel. 

reel  winds  up  the  line  when  you  have  hooked  a  fish 
by  means  of  a  spring  released  by  the  touch  of  the 
little  finger  (Fig.  45,  p.  92),  so  that  with  the  other 
hand  you  may  use  the  landing-net.  I,  personally, 
never  use  any  other. 

The  line  for  fly-fishing  may  be  one  of   Martin's 


92  SUMMER   ANGLING 


Fig.  44.  —  "  Automatic  "  Reel. 


Fig.  45.  —  Siiowing  Method  of  operating  Spring  Catch. 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  93 

"  Kingfisher  "  lines  of  medium  thickness.  If  you 
prefer  to  buy  it  undressed,  and  to  dress  it  yourself, 
do  so.     The  following  are  some  useful  receipts  :  — 

1.  Boiled  oil  and  best  coach  varnish,  equal 
parts  ;  mix  at  blood  heat  (about  100°),  and  im- 
merse line  twelve  hours.      . 

2.  Boiled  oil,  one  pint  >./>.eeswax,  four  ounces  ; 
put  the  oil  in  an  earthenware  jar,  and  stand  it  in 
boiling  water.  (Keep  the  latter  boiling.)  Add  the 
wax  in  small  shavings.  Immerse  the  line  when 
the  temperature  has  fallen  to  100°,  or  thereabouts, 
and  keep  it  immersed  several  hours,  the  longer  the 
better.  The  mixture  should  be  retained  at  about 
blood  heat  on  the  stove  as  long  as  the  line  is  in  it. 

3.  Boiled  oil,  one-half  pint  ;  three-quarters 
ounce  beeswax ;  one  and  one-half  ounce  Bur- 
'gundy  pitch  ;  tablespoonful  copal  varnish.  Raise 
the  heat  of  this  a  little  above  that  necessary  for 
complete  solution,  and  immerse  the  line,  keeping 
the  mixture  warm  on  the  stove  for  twelve  hours. 

These  are  first-class  dressings,  and  are  decidedly 
the  best  I  know  of  for  the  boy  angler.  Do  not 
forget  to  wind  your  line  on  the  winder  (Fig.  10) 
you  made  for  your  linen  sucker-line,  and  stretch  it 
when  soaked  the  proper  time  in  some  dry  place 


94  SUMMER  ANGLING 

between  loops  of  string  rather  than  on  nails.  A 
barn  makes  a  good  place  ;  but,  as  it  is  apt  to  be 
dusty,  an  unused  attic  is  better.  Wipe  off  the 
superfluous  dressing  at  the  time  of  stretching  with 
a  part  of  an  old  kid  glove.  When  it  is  perfectly 
hard  and  dry,  a  little^?  French  chalk  will  give  it  a 
splendid  polish,  if  ap^ed  between  the  folds  of  a 
piece  of  chamois  leather. 

The  next  operation  for  the  fly-fisher  to  learn  is 
to  make  his  own  leaders.  Now,  to  begin  at  the 
beginning,  a  leader  is  a  line  made  of  silkworm  gut, 
generally  three  yards  long ;  and  it  is  attached  to 
the  silk  or  reel  line,  and  to  it  is  attached  the  snell 
on  which  the  fly  is  tied.  As  the  silkworm  gut 
comes  in  lengths,  according  to  price,  from  eight 
inches  to  twenty  inches  in  length,  they  must  of 
course  be  joined  together  until  the  three  yards 
is  made  up.  Sometimes,  as  for  bass  fishing,  six 
feet  is  deemed  sufficient,  but  I  prefer  my  leader 
to  be  within  a  foot  of  the  length  of  the  rod  for 
trout  fishing ;  so  nine  feet  let  it  be  at  this  time. 

The  gut  is  cheapest  if  a  good  fair  price  is  given 
for  it.  You  can  trust  yourself  with  Shipley  to 
send  you  a  hank  of  good  quality  —  for  it  comes  in 
hanks  of  a  hundred  fibres  each  —  at  a  reasonable 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  95 

price.  There  are  two  waste  ends  that  are  wrapped 
in  red  cotton  yarn,  and  these  must  be  cut  off. 
Then  immerse  the  strands  in  lukewarm  soft  water, 
and  let  it  stand  till  cold.  If  the  gut  be  allowed  to 
soak  all  night,  so  much  the  better.  In  the  morn- 
ing proceed  to  make  your  leader,  selecting  only 
the  round  and  even  strands.  You  can  easily  see  if 
they  are  round  by  twisting  them,  each  end  in  a 
different  direction,  between  finger  and  thumb.  If 
flat,  the  gut  will  resemble  a  screw  in  appearance, 
because  of  the  twisted   flat  edges.     If  round,  no 


Fig.  46.  —  Loop  for  End  of  Snell  or  Leader. 

such  appearance  will  show  itself.  It  is  well  to 
pick  out  the  round  and  clear  strands,  and  place 
them  in  another  receptacle.  There  are  sure  to  be 
a  few  flat  strands  that  can  be  laid  aside  to  come  in 
at  some  time  when  a  short  piece  of  indifferent  gut 
will  serve  some  odd.purpose. 

Assuming  that  you  are  ready  to  begin,  —  take 
the  first  strand  and  tie  a  loop  (Fig.  46).  This  is 
the  easiest  of  all  the  loops,  though  I  am  not  quite 
sure  that  it  is   the  best  absolutely.     However,  I 


96  SUMMER  ANGLING 

have  never  known  it  to  draw  loose  in  a  long  ex- 
perience, and  it  is  very  easy  to  tie.  Draw  it  tight, 
and  cut  off  the  ends  close.  The  next  knot  to  be 
tied  is  called  the  fisherman's  knot,  and  is  easily 
made  (Fig.  47),  and  one  of  the  best  for  medium 
thick  gut  ;  but  for  the  very  finest  the  angler's 
knot  (Fig.  48)  is  both  easy  and  effective.     Either 


Fig.  47.  —  "  Fisherman's  "  Knot,  for  Leader  tying. 

of  these  will  do  for  the  tyro,  as  they  are  quickly 
made,  strong  and  easy.  Other  knots  have  been 
advocated  even  by  myself,  and  I  must  refer  you 
for  these  to  my  other  books  for  advanced  anglers. 


Fig.  48.—  "Angler's  "  Knot  for  Fine  Gut. 

Having  tied  up  sufficient  lengths  to  amount  to 
nine  feet,  finish  with  another  large  loop.  Both  of 
the  loops  should  be  at  least,  one  inch  in  length. 
You  can  now  stretch  the  leader  between  two  brass 
or  clean  iron  nails  on  a  board  or  on  the  side  of  the 
barn  ;  and  when  dry,  being  straight,  it  will  coil 
neater  for  packing   in  your   tackle-book.      Some 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  9/ 

good  anglers  like  their  gut  for  snells  and  leaders 
stained  a  mist  color  (a  bluish  dun),  and  this  you  can 
do  before  stretching  with  the  following  stain  :  — 

In  a  teacupful  of  hot  water — nearly  boiling  — 
drop  a  piece  of  copperas  (sulphate  iron),  and  set 
that  aside.  Now  take  a  piece  of  extract  of  log- 
wood about  the  size  of  a  bean,  and  dissolve  it  in 
another  teacupful  of  hot  water ;  add  to  this  a  good 
pinch  of  carbonate  of  soda  (saleratus),  placing  the 
gut  into  a  bowl  sufficient  to  hold  the  two  cups  of 
solution,  and  pouring  the  dissolved  logwood  over  it. 
Let  it  soak  for  fifteen  minutes,  till  the  gut  has 
attained  a  faint  but  decided  crimson  color.  Then 
add  the  copperas  solution  all  at  once  (not  pouring 
slowly),  and  keep  the  gut  moving  for  fifteen  min- 
utes longer.  Then  take  out  and  wash  with  cold 
water.  The  result  is  a  neutral  dark  tint,  which 
renders  the  gut  invisible  on  dull  days,  but  is  not, 
I  think,  the  best  for  bright,  clear,  sunny  days. 

The  gut  is  best  dyed  after  tying,  as  the  stain 
seems  to  render  it  less  easy  and  smooth  to  tie ; 
but  the  point  is  trivial  and  need  not  be  insisted  on. 

The  length  of  the  snell  is  commonly  four  and  a 
half  inches  in  American  fly-making ;  but  English- 
men tie  their  flies  on  the  whole  strand,  which  is 


98  SUMMER  ANGLING 

sometimes,  as  I  have  said,  over  a  foot  long.  The 
arbitrary  length  is  on  account  of  the  fly-hook 
being  just  so  long ;  and  though  not  to  be  rec- 
ommended, because  the  fish  are  liable  to  see  the 
double  loop  of  the  snell  and  leader  when  it  is  not 
over  four  and  a  half  inches  away,  the  tyro  can 
follow  it  for  the  present  on  account  of  its  being 
convenient  for  the  fly-hooks  in  general  use. 

Sometimes  the  snell  is  "  re-enforced  "  by  doub- 
ling the  gut  at  the  hook  end.  This  is  done  by 
tying  a  large  loop,  and,  after  stretching,  cutting 
through  it  (Fig.  49).  Another  good  way  is  to 
have  three  strands  for  re-enforcement  (Fig.  50) ; 
and  whereas  I  have  found  two  inefficient  at  times, 
I  have  never  found  three  to  fail  with  the  biggest 
fish.  The  re-enforcement  is  also  a  preventive  of 
the  accident  known  as  "  cracking  "  off  the  fly,  due 
to  a  clumsy  cast,  as  will  be  shown  farther  on. 

We  now  arrive  at  the  daintiest  art  of  all  arts 
whatsoever,  —  fly-making.  I  must  beg  your  close 
attention,  and  will  at  the  outset  promise  you  to 
give  the  easiest  and  plainest  of  tasks  for  you  to  do. 

First,  let  us  make  the  easiest  of  all  artificial 
flies  together,  a  *'  Pennell  Hackle."  Take  a  snell 
of  gut,  and  a  feather  (hackle)  from  the  neck  of  a 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT 


99 


lOO 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT 


lOI 


rooster;  also  a  hook  and  a  waxed  piece  of  spool 

silk.     Place  the  snell  underneath  fj 

the  shank  of  the  hook,  and  whip  || 

it  with  the  silk  and  the  end  of 

the  hackle  (Fig.  51),  taking  care 

the  hackle  is   placed    with  the 

under  side  ///.     Then  take  the 

quill    end    of    the    hackle,   and 

wind  it  round  at  right  angles  to 

the  shank  (Fig.   52),  and  finally 

tie  it  in  place,  and  run  the  silk 

down   to   opposite  the    barb  of 

the  hook,  leaving  the  end  of  the 

hackle    protruding  to  form   the 

tail  of  the  fly.     When  finished, 

it  appears  as  shown  in  Fig.  53. 

This  fly  may  be  made  without 

other  tools  than  the  fingers  ;  but 

for  all   other  kinds,  some  other 

tools  are  advisable.     These  are 

as  follows  :  — 

A  vice  made  somewhat  after 
the  diagram  (Fig.  54). 

A  pair  of  pliers  made  of  steel  ^.    ^„     „  ,.       „   ,, 

*■  ^  Fig.  53.  — Making  a  Hackle 

wire   (Fig.    55).  ny  — 3d  stage. 


102 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  IO3 

A  little  hook  made  from  a  crochet  hook,  to  draw 
the  thread  through  in  tying  knots  ;  and  on  the 
other  end  you  can  roll  your  wax,  as  the  stick 
enables  you  to  rub  it  on  the  silk  with  less  risk 
of  getting  it  on  your  fingers. 

The  wax  needed  is  as  formulated  in  the  chapter 
on  sucker  fishing. 

The  varnish  is  of  white  (or  bleached)  shellac. 

The  feathers  you  need  will  depend  upon  the 
kind  of  fly  made,  of  course,  and  consist  of  hun- 
dreds of  varieties,  though  you  can  make  killing 
flies  with  few.  Never  disdain  the  wings  of  any 
bird,  or  the  hackles  of  any  rooster.  They  are 
always  useful. 

The  silks  used  for  the  bodies  of  flies  are  the 
best  "  wash  "  embroideries.  The  tinsel  is  the  flat 
kind,  to  be  purchased  at  the  theatrical  costume- 
makers  ;  but  if  you  find  a  difliculty  in  this  mate- 
rial, send  to  Shipley's,  or  substitute  yellow  or 
white  silk  for  the  gold  or  silver  tinsel.  In  most 
cases  this  can  be  done  without  hurting  the  use- 
fulness of  the  fly. 

For  the  beginner  I  advise  the  following  modest 
list  of  feathers  :  — 

Hackles,  from  brown,  black,  Plymouth  Rock, 
and  white  roosters. 


I04 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  105 

Wings  from  the  crow,  white  goose,  brown  hen, 
and  mallard  duck,  with  feathers  from  the  breast  of 
the  latter,  turkey  tail  feathers,  peacock  tail  or 
sword  feathers. 

The  silks  to  be  used  can  be  procured  as  they 
are  wanted  from  any  dry-goods  store. 

Let  us  now  make  a  hackle  fly,  say  a  brown 
hackle,  which  is  a  killing  fly  everywhere  for  trout, 
and  will  probably  take  more  fish  in  a  year  than 
any  other  one  fly  known  to  anglers  in  five  years. 
Set  your  vice  in  place  on  the  edge  of  a  good  firm 
table.  Take  a  No.  6  Sproat  hook  (see  Fig.  33), 
and  tie  a  snell  to  it,  commencing  an  eighth  part  of 
the  shank  away  from  the  end  (for  there  is  where 
your  head  of  the  fly  will  be,  and  you  don't  want  it 
to  be  too  large).  Now  take  two  of  three  fibres  of 
the  peacock's  tail  feathers  (called  herl),  and  tie  in 
the  ends  as  shown  (Fig.  56)  ;  wind  them  round  the 
shank  till  within  one-eighth  of  an  inch  of  the  end ; 
and  now  wind  your  tying  silk  around  the  herl,  that 
is,  wound  in  a  loose  coil  to  where  you  want  the 
herl  to  be  secured  (one-eighth  of  an  inch  from  the 
end).  Now  tie  the  herl  with  a  half-hitch  (Fig.  57), 
and  cut  off  the  loose  part. 

Now  take   a   hackle,   and,   by   stroking  it  from 


io6 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  lO/ 

end  to  end,  draw  out  the  fibres.  Run  the  nail  of 
the  middle  finger  of  the  right  hand  down  next  the 
mid-rib,  holding  the  point  of  the  hackle  between 
the  finger  and  thumb  of  the  right  hand,  and  the 
root  of  it  between  the  forefinger  and  thumb  of  the 
left  hand.  The  nail  of  the  middle  finger  can  be 
forced  in  this  way  against  the  roots  of  the  fibres, 
and  they  will  be  "  turned!'  as  it  is  termed  (Fig. 
57),  and  so  arranged  away  from  the  mid-rib  that 
they  will  not  be  tangled  up  when  tied  on  the  hook. 
This  little  operation  should  be  mastered,  as  it  is 
of  great  value  to  the  fly-maker. 

Now  cut  off  the  extreme  tip  of  the  hackle,  and 
tie  it  in  (Fig.  57)  ;  then  wind  it  as  you  did  with 
the  Pennell  hackle,  and  tie  it  firmly  with  the  ty- 
ing silk,  with  two  half -hitches  ;  cut  off  the  loose 
ends  of  the  silk  and  hackle,  touch  with  the  varnish, 
and  your  Brown  Hackle  is  finished. 

Now,  in  the  making  of  a  winged  fly,  let  us  take 
the  "  Coachman,"  which  is  a  Brown  Hackle  with  a 
white  wing  added.  The  easiest  way  is  to  so  dress 
the  Brown  Hackle  as  to  leave  space  enough  when 
the  hackle  is  tied  to  lay  on  a  pair  of  wings  taken 
from  two  feathers  (Fig.  59)  —  from  opposite  wing 
feathers  of  the  white  goose  or  pigeon.     The  slips 


io8 


SUMMER   ANGLING 


of  feather  are  held  between  the  forefinger  and 
thumb  of  the  left  hand,  and  pressed  down  to  the 
shank  of  the  hook  ;  then  the 
thread  is  passed  up  and  over 
the  ends  of  the  slips,  and  down 
round  the  shank,  and  there  se- 
cured (Figs.  59  and  60).  These 
are  called  laid  on  wings ;  and 
small  white  whole  feathers  will 
do  equally  as  well  as  slips,  and 
may  be  tied  with  less  difficulty. 
Indeed,  in  the  large-sized  bass 
fly  a  pair  of  feathers  is  always 
used. 

The  "  reversed  "  wings,  which 
are  applied  to  all  the  best  trout 
flies  in   this   country,  are,  how- 
ever,   put    on    the    hook   first. 
That   is,   when  the  hook   is   at- 
tached   to  the    snell,  two    slips 
are  placed  in  the  position  shown 
(Fig.  61),  and  there  se- 
cured.    Then  the  body 
and  legs,  or  hackle,  are 

Method  of  tying  Reversed  *^ 

Wing  Flies.  tied  as  in    the  case    of 


Fig.  61. 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  IO9 

the  Brown  Hackle  fly  ;  and  after  the  hackle  is 
secured,  the  wings  are  turned  back  and  secured 
with  two  half-hitches,  and  the  fly  is  finished. 

The  learner  has  only  to  practise  making  these 
two  flies  till  he  can  find  no  fault  with  them,  to  un- 
derstand the  whole  principle  of  fly-making.  And 
he  can  catch  fish  with  one  or  the  other  of  these 
all  days  in  the  trout  season.  Of  course,  as  he  gets 
other  patterns  to  imitate,  he  will  want  to  search 
the  works  on  angling  for  the  names  of  the  materi- 
als used,  and  it  will  be  necessary  for  him  to  some- 
times undo  a  fly  (from  the  head)  to  find  out  how  it 
is  made ;  but  with  perseverance  he  will  soon  learn 
the  process,  and  will  only  thus  be  doing  what  many 
others  have  done  before.  Mr.  Francis  Francis, 
the  great  English  angling  author  and  editor  of 
the  Field,  admitted  that  he  had  never  had  a  les- 
son on  fly-making  in  his  life,  yet  he  was  certainly 
an  excellent  fly-maker,  to  my  certain  knowledge. 

As  I  have  mentioned  a  few  materials  that  the 
tyro  had  better  provide  himself  with,  I  will  give 
the  flies  they  are  useful  for  :  — 

Brown  Hackle,  —  peacock  herl  body,  brown 
hackle  for  legs. 

Black  Hackle,  —  black  embroidery  silk  body, 
black  hackle  for  legs. 


no  SUMMER  ANGLING 

Plymouth  Rock  Hackle,  —  green  silk  body, 
ribbed  with  gold  tinsel  or  yellow  silk,  and  the 
hackle  'for  legs. 

White  Hackle,  —  white  silk  body,  ribbed  silver 
tinsel,  hackle  at  head  for  legs. 

Black  June  is  made  thus  :  Body^  peacock  herl ; 
legs,  black  hackle  ;  luings,  crow. 

Coachman  has  been  described. 

Cowdun,  —  body,  yellowish  green  wool  yarn  ; 
legs,  brown  hackle  ;  wings,  from  the  brown  hen. 

Red  Spinner,  —  body,  blood-red  silk ;  legs, 
brown  hackle ;  wings,  from  the  leaden  part  of  the 
wing  feathers  of  the  mallard  duck. 

Professor,  —  body,  yellow  silk  ribbed  with  gold 
tinsel,  and  a  tuft  of  red  ibis  feathers  (you  can  get 
ibis  sufficient  for  this  from  me)  as  tail  ;  legs, 
brown  hackle  ;  wings,  two  breast  feathers  of  the 
mallard. 

Montreal,  —  body,  wine-colored  silk,  ribbed  gold 
tinsel  ;  legs,  a  wine-colored  hackle  (stained  or  dyed, 
from  the  white  rooster  hackles)  ;  wings,  turkey 
tail  feather. 

These  flies  will  be  sufficient  for  the  young  fly- 
maker  to  begin  on  ;  and  when  he  has  mastered 
them,  he  must  go  for  further  information  to  my 


FLY-FISniNG  FOR    TROUT  III 

more  advanced  book,  "  Fly-fishing  and  Fly-mak- 
ing," published  by  the  "  Forest  &  Stream  Co.," 
New  York  City  ;  or  he  can  send  to  me  direct, 
and  I  will  advise  and  help  him,  so  that  he  cannot 
fail. 

I  spoke  of  stained  hackles  just  now.  The 
staining  can  be  done  very  easily  by  means  of  the 
"  Diamond  Dyes,"  to  be  got  at  any  drug-store.  * 
Be  sure  you  follow  the  "  directions  "  exactly  — 
they  are  given  on  each  ten-cent  package  of  dye. 
The  feathers  must  be  washed  with  soap  and  warm 
water  until  every  particle  of  the  natural  grease  is 
out,  and  rinsed  in  several  waters,  to  get  out  the 
soap.  They  are  best  dried,  after  dying  and  rinsing 
in  cold  water,  by  placing  them  in  a  cardboard  box, 
pierced  with  holes  through  the  lid,  and  letting 
them  get  warm  on  the  stove  ;  or,  if  the  weather  be 
favorable,  out  in  the  air,  shaking  the  box  vigor- 
ously every  now  and  again.  This  is  my  practice 
for  a  large  quantity.  For  a  small  number  (a  few 
dozen  or  so),  tie  the  hackles  on  ordinary  skewers, 
or  slips  of  wood,  a  dozen  on  each  ;  and  when  you 
want  to  dry  them  you  can  do  so  by  simply  twirl- 
ing them  between  the  palms  of  both  hands. 

Having  constructed   your  fly,   I  must  now  tell 


112  SUMMER  ANGLING 

you  how  to  use  it,  —  and  let  me  here  say  that  the 
most  successful  fly-fisher  is  he  who  knows  how  to 
drop  his  fly  daintily,  rather  than  he  who  only 
knows  how  to  cast  a  long  line.  Most  fish  are 
caught  within  fifty  feet  ;  and  you  need  not,  there- 
fore, endeavor  to  learn  how  to  cast  ninety  feet 
at  the  first  start. 


Fig.  62. 
Improper  Method  of  Casting. 


Here  is  the  procedure  I  recommend 
to  the  beginner.  Take  a  boat  and  row 
out  into  a  lake  ;  casting  on  the  grass 
zvill  do,  but  water  is  better.  Now 
grasp  your  fly-rod  firmly  by  the  handle ;  the 
reel  below  the.  hand  (no  matter  what  anybody  else 
says),  and  hanging  from  the  rod  ;  the  grasp  should 
be  as  shown  in  Fig.  45  ;  and  if  you  use  the 
automatic  reel,  the  little  finger  must  go  round 
the  break,  as  shown,  but  not  on  it,  except  where 
necessary  to  draw  out  line  or  land  a  fish.  Draw 
out  from  the  reel  a  few  yards  of  line,  and,  waving 
the  rod  with  a  smart  movement,  cause  it  to  pass 
through  the  guides.     The  cast  is  made  by  drawing 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  II3 

the  rod  smartly  backwards,  so  as  to  throw  the  fly 
back  in  the  air  to  the  extent  of  the  line  out ;  and 
then  a  forward  thrash  of  the  rod  brings  the  fly 
forward,  and  lays  the  line  out  straight.  It  is  a 
matter  of  judgment,  based  on  much  practice,  to 
know  when  to  bring  the  rod  again  forward  ;  but 
practice  and  watching  others  are  the  only  roads 


Fig.  63. 
Proper  Moment  for  Forward  Throw  or  Cast. 


by  which  an  elegant  manner  of  casting 
can  be  achieved.  Be  careful,  first,  to 
throw  back  (or  retrieve)  the  line  quickly; 
and,  second,  to  not  make  the  forward  cast 
or  throw  too  quickly  thereafter.  If  you  do,  the 
result  is  shown  in  Fig.  62,  where '^;he  fly  has  not 
got  back  far  enough,  and  the  forward  movement 
snaps  the  fly  off  (most  probably  on  the  principle 
of  the  snap  of  a  whip).  Fig.  62  shows  the  mi- 
proper  forward  cast,  and  Fig.  63  the  p7vpcr  mo- 
ment at  which  the  cast  should  be  made. 

Again  I  say,  practice,  practice,  practice  !  If  you 
do  so  on  the  grass,  tie  a  little  tuft  of  wool  yarn 
on  your  line  end ;  and  I  have  found  the  snow  in 


114  SUMMER   ANGLING 

winter  to  be  a  capital  fly-casting  ground.  As 
soon  as  you  can  lay  out  thirty  feet  straight  and 
without  snapping,  go  to  work  and  strive  for  deli- 
cacy and  correctness  of  aim,  especially  the  former. 
It  is  unpardonable  to  make  a  splash  of  your  line 
in  the  water  when  fly-fishing. 

We  now  come  to  an  important  point,  —  how  to 
fly-fish.  On  this  subject  volumes  have  been  writ- 
ten ;  and,  as  Izaak  Walton  long  ago  pointed  out, 
one  might  as  well  try  to  teach  another  how  to  use 
his  fists  in  writing  as  to  try  to  teach  fishing  in 
the  same  way ;  nevertheless,  if  the  learner  will  let 
this  little  book  accompany  his  persistent  practice, 
he  will  be  on  the  right  road  towards  becoming  a 
proficient  fly-caster  and  trout  fisherman. 

If  the  stream  to  be  fished  is  a  tolerably  broad 
and  slow-flowing  one,  the  dry  fly  may  be  used  ; 
and  this  means  that  the  fly  is  dried  in  the  air  by 
several  times  making  the  motion  of  casting,  but 
not  dropping  the  fly.  In  England,  especially  on 
the  clear  chalk  streams,  this  fishing  is  the  only 
style  deemed  ordinarily  applicable ;  but  it  is  rarely 
used  in  this  country,  though  I  frequently  practise 
it,  having  had  at  one  time  ten  miles  of  the  premier 
dry-fly   stream   of    England   in   my  charge.     And 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  II5 

the  fly  in  this  style  must  be  cast  up  stream,  not 
doivn,  and  be  allowed  to  float  until,  it  approaches 
the  feet  of  the  angler.  This  is  a  deadly  style  of 
fishing ;  but  the  flies  must  be  small,  and  require 
to  be  made  with  large  wings,  and  sometimes  it  is 
advisable  to  use  double  wings  ;  that  is,  two  slips 
for  each  wing  instead  of  one. 

The  ordinary  way  of  fly-fishing  is,  however,  to 
cast  the  fly  down  stream  and  across,  drawing  it 
up  with  slightly  jerking  motion.  This  motion  ex- 
pands and  contracts  the  fibres  of  the  fly,  and  gives 
a  semblance  of  life,  as  if  the  insect  struggled  to 
be  free ;  and  this  movement,  of  course,  goes  far 
to  hide  the  fraud  on  the  fish.  In  dry-fly  fishing 
this  movement  is  not  made,  but  the  fly  is  allowed 
to  float  quite  without  movement  ;  and  is  neces- 
sarily, therefore,  of  much  closer  imitation,  —  that 
is,  to  be  successful.  Personally,  I  am  an  advo- 
cate of  the  "  exact  imitation "  theory,  and  be- 
lieve that  all  imitations  should  be  as  close  as 
possible.  This  is,  however,  a  refinement  into 
which  the  boy-angler  need  not  be  led. 

Down-stream  fishing  is  certainly  easier  to  prac- 
tise, and  the  task  of  casting  is  much  facilitated  by 
the  downward  and  therefore  pidlmg  action  of  the 
water. 


Il6  SUMMER  ANGLING 

Of  course  all  likely  spots  must  be  covered, 
whether  they  lie  down  or  up  stream,  —  quiet  cor- 
ners and  eddies ;  the  edges  and,  in  early  summer, 
the  centre  of  swift-running  streams  ;  beneath 
dams  ;  near  old  sunken  trunks  of  trees  or  logs  ; 
near  to  springs  and  cool  incoming  streams ;  and 
though  no  special  time  of  the  day  can  absolutely 
be  set  apart,  yet  early  morning  and  late  afternoon 
are  generally  found  most  fruitful  of  sport  in  trout 
fishing. 

Nor  is  the  night-time  to  be  despised  in  mid- 
summer. During  the  excessive  heat  of  the  day  no 
fish  will  bite ;  but  if  the  moon  be  on  the  ascend- 
ant, or  even  on  the  decline,  providing  it  be  not  too 
bright,  trout  will  rise  to  the  fly  very  satisfactorily 
in  the  night.  Indeed,  the  fact  that  no  fish  are 
so  easily  taken  in  the  daytime  whilst  there  are 
moonlight  nights,  may  be  assumed  to  be  because 
the  fish  find  food  plenteously  at  night-time,  and 
therefore  have  no  room  for  it  in  the  daytime ;  or, 
at  least,  do  not  feel  so  eager  as  they  otherwise 
would  do.  For  night  fishing  large  flies  are  best ; 
a  large  Brown  Hackle  or  Coachman  is  a  capital 
lure,  and  it  can  be  cast  into  the  water  with  some 
splashing,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  the  fish's 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  \\^ 

attention.  Some  of  the  largest  fish  are  taken  in 
this  way  ;  though,  to  be  sure,  it  is  rather  lonesome 
work,  unless  one  is  accompanied  by  another  brother 
of  the  rod. 

Another  very  productive  way  of  fly-fishing  is 
angling  with  what  is  known  in  England  as  a  "  blow- 
line."  This  consists  of  a  light  floss  or  twist  silk 
reel  line,  and  a  single  hook  at  the  end  of  the 
leader,  on  which  is  impaled  a  natural  fly  —  a 
"  blow  "  or  blue-bottle  fly  is  the  best.  The  only 
time  this  lure  can  be  used  is  when  the  wind  is  fav- 
orable. It  must  be  at  your  back,  blowing  either 
up,  or  up  and  across,  or  down,  or  down  and  across ; 
but,  as  you  can  fish  from  either  bank,  you  have  a 
good  choice  of  winds,  and  can  fish  quite  a  number 
of  days  in  the  summer.  It  is  especially  fitted  for 
fishing  the  riffles  or  shallows,  and  is  very  killing. 

The  way  to  practise  it  is  as  follows  :  First, 
catch  your  blue-bottles  —  the  butcher  will  gladly 
spare  you  what  he  has,  and  a  gauze  insect  collec- 
tor's net  is  the  most  useful  device  for  their  capture. 
Then  kill  them  by  pinching  their  heads  ;  next  tie 
a  fine  piece  of  silk  thread  around  each  one  ;  pre- 
pare, say,  two  dozen  in  this  way  before  repairing 
to  the  stream.  You  will  not  regret  the  time  it 
takes. 


IlS  SUMMER  ANGLING 

Being  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  you  must  find 
out  about  the  wind  ;  for  to  it  you  owe  the  placing 
of  your  fly  where  the  fish  are.  Having  slipped 
the  hook  into  the  girdle  of  silk  thread  round  the 
fly,  you  raise  your  rod  aloft,  and  begin  drawing  out 
your  fine  silk  line.  The  looser  the  strands  of  the 
line  the  better,  as  the  wind  catches  it  the  more 
readily  when  it  is  loosely  twisted.  Let  it  float 
out  before  the  wind,  till  some  forty  feet  or  more 
are  being  blown  up  or  down  over  the  stream. 
Then  by  lowering  the  point  of  the  rod,  drop  your 
fly  just  on  the  water,  let  it  float  a  few  inches, 
and  lift  the  rod  again,  so  as  to  take  it  off,  con- 
tinuing to  do  this  over  any  likely  spots  you  may 
perceive.  It  is  rare  that  a  trout  refuses  to  rise  to 
this  lure,  and  there  is  really  more  in  it  than  seems 
to  be  the  case  from  this  brief  mention. 

Fly-fishing  with  the  natural  fly  is  to  be  com- 
mended as  a  killing  method  of  fishing  at  all  times 
where  possible ;  but  it  does  not  compare  with  fish- 
ing with  the  artificial  fly  as  an  art. 

A  word  of  advice  may  here  fitly  be  given  in  ref- 
erence to  the  playing  and  landing  of  a  hooked 
trout.  Don't  forget  that  you  must  never  allow  the 
fish  a  slack  line  ;  keep  the  tip  of  the  rod  always 


FLY-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  I19 

up  and  at  tension  against  the  fish  ;  be  careful  and 
deUberate  ;  never  hurry  the  fish  ;  and,  finally,  never 
lift  the  fish  by  the  line,  —  use  a  landing-net,  and 
bring  it  up  behind  the  fish,  rather  than  dive  for 
the  head  of  the  fish,  as  I  have  seen  novices  do 
many  times.  *If  the  fish  is  not  tired  out,  let  it 
struggle  until  it  is,  and  tJicn  you  can  use  the  net, 
if  you  cannot  do  so  at  first. 


120  SUMMER   ANGLING 


CHAPTER   VI 

FLY-FISHING    FOR   BASS,    PERCH,    SUNFISH, 
ETC. 

In  summer,  especially  during  the  early  part  of 
July,  the  bass  (both  "  large  "  and  "  small  "  mouth) 
will  take  the  fly  with  avidity.  A  rather  more 
powerful  rod  is  necessary  to  completely  enjoy  bass 
fly-fishing ;  but  the  one  made  for  trout  will  do  if  a 
tip  be  fashioned  rather  shorter  —  say  six  inches  — 
than  the  one  you  use  for  trout.  The  reason  for 
this  requirement  is  the  heavier  and  larger  fly  in 
use.  It  is  usually  twice  as  large  as  the  ordinary 
ones  employed  |or  trout  ;  and  for  the  large-mouth 
bass  of  the  South,  I  have  made  flies  nearly  three 
inches  long,  but  these  are  very  exceptional.  A 
No.  3  or  4  hook  (see  Fig.  33)  is  ordinarily  large 
enough  for  the  black  basses  of  the  generality  of 
our  streams  and  lakes. 

The  reel  need  not  be  changed,  and  that  em- 
ployed for  trout  can  be  used  without  difficulty. 
The  line  may  be  a  little  thicker,  but  the  point  is 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   FTC.  121 

of  no  importance  if  it  be  strong  enough.  I  always 
use  my  trout  fly-line  for  black  bass,  and  find  no 
difficulty.  The  leader  should  be  of  thicker  gut, 
and  the  same  length  as  for  trout. 

If  you  have  carefully  followed  the  directions  for 
fly-making  for  trout,  you  do  not  need  them  re- 
peated here  ;  for  bass  fly-making  is  identical  in 
principle  and  practice,  except  that  a  larger  hook 
and  stouter  gut  are  used.  A  few  of  the  best  bass 
flies  I  know  of  may  be  described,  and  with  these 
you  will  probably  catch  as  many  fish  as  anybody 
else  with  a  ;^500  collection.  These  have  the 
merit,  also,  of  simplicity  :  — 

Brown  Hackle,  —  made  as  described  for  trout 
on  No.  3  or  4  hook. 

Brown  Moth,  —  body,  brown  worsted  (cinnamon 
brown)  ;  tail,  a  few  hairs  from  tail  of  brown  squir- 
rel ;  legs,  brown  hackle  ;  wings,  turkey  tail.  Size 
of  hook.  No.  3. 

Coachman  (see  chapter  on  trout). 

Royal  Coachman,  —  made  same  as  ordinary 
Coachman,  but  the  body  is  divided  in  centre  by  a 
band  of  scarlet  silk.      (Fig.  64.) 

Gray  Hackle,  —  same  as  for  trout.      No.  3  hook. 

Professor,  —  same  as  for  trout.      No.  3  hook. 


122 


SUMMER  ANGLING 


Black  June,  —  same  as  for  trout. 
No.  3  hook. 

Cowdun,  —  brown  wings  ;  green- 
ish-yellow worsted  body  ;  brown 
hackle. 

White  Miller,  —  body,  white 
wool  and  silk-ribbed  gold  tinsel,  or 
orange  silk  ;  hackle,  white  ;  wings, 
white. 

Seth  Green,  —  body,  green  silk 
ribbed  with  yellow  silk  ;  wings, 
brown  (buff  turkey  tail)  ;  hackle, 
brown.  No.  3  hook.  These  are 
sufficient  to  begin  with. 

In  using  the  fly  for  bass,  some- 
what similar  tactics  to  those  in 
vogue  for  trout  are  employed.  Of 
course  the  thing  to  do  first  is  to 
ascertain  beyond  peradventure  that 
bass  are  present.  The  fly  is  cast 
in  precisely  the  same  style  as  for 
trout ;  but  it  is  allowed  to  sink 
several  inches  at  least  under  water 
before  it  is  dirawn  back  by  little 
jerks  towards  the  caster.     In  deep 


FLY-FISIIIA'G  FOR  BASS,   FTC.  1 23 

water  it  is  advisable  to  close  a  small  split  shot 
about  a  foot  above  the  hook,  so  that  the  line 
is  sunk  a  foot,  or  even  two,  beneath  the  water. 
The  small-mouth  black  bass  is  usually  found 
over  a  rocky  bottom,  near  old  submerged  trunks 
of  trees,  and  in  deeper  water  generally  than  its 
confrere  of  the  "  large-mouth  "  species.  But  both 
take  the  fly  greedily  at  times ;  and  when  either 
is  hooked,  there  is  quite  a  "  circus "  on  hand  to 
deal  with.  Especially  is  this  so  with  the  small- 
mouth  fish.  He  is  the  very  bull-dog  of  the 
water.  As  soon  as  the  hook  pricks  him,  the 
line  runs  out  with  startling  rapidity ;  then  he 
leaps  from  the  water,  following  this  up  with 
other  leaps,  sometimes  to  the  number  of  six, 
or  even  more ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  be  patient 
arid  wary  if  you  would  secure  the  fish  in  the  end. 
I  do  not  think  any  fish  that  swims  is  superior  to 
the  black  basses  in  fighting-power  on  the  hook. 

By  the  way,  the  young  angler  is  sometimes 
puzzled  to  know  how  to  distinguish  between  the 
large-mouth,  and  the  smaii-mouth.  fish.  Let  him 
do  it  by  observing  the  feature  that  gives  them 
their  colloquial  names.  The  large-mouth  has  a 
proportionately  much  larger  mouth,  extending  to 


124  SUMMER  ANGLING 

the  outer  orbit  or  rim  enclosing  the  eye,  whilst  in 
the  small-mouth,  the  mouth  only  extends  to  a  line 
drawn  perpendicularly  through  the  centre  of  the 
pupil  of  the  eye,  and  in  addition  there  is  a  spot  of 
red  in  the  eye  of  the  latter. 

All  the  various  black  basses  of  fresh  water  in 
this  country  have  been  decided  by  authoritative 
naturalists  to  belong  to  one  of  these  species : 
either  Microptertis  salmoides  (the  large-mouth),  or 
M.  dolinieii  (the  small-mouth  black  bass). 

I  have  at  times  dressed  the  flies  I  used  with 
a  slip  of  lead  on  the  hook  shank  under  the  body ; 
but  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  interfering  with  the 
casting.  The  fly  does  not  alight  so  softly,  and 
cannot  be  propelled  through  the  air  so  readily. 
The  movement  in  bass-fly  casting  should  be  almost 
exactly  like  that  in  throwing  a  ball ;  and  I  suppose 
my  boy  readers  know  how  this  is  done  overhand. 

Perch  will  take  the  fly  in  summer  in  any  waters 
where  they  are  numerous.  Near  where  I  write  is 
a  beautiful  little  mountain  lake  on  the  summit  of 
a  hill  (whence  it  is  termed  Summit  Lake),  supplied 
by  springs,  and  deep  and  clear  and  cool.  Bass 
and  perch  inhabit  it ;  and  the  perch  vie  with  the 
bass    in    taking    the  fly.     Whilst  camping  on  its 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   FTC.  1 25 

shores  last  August,  I  found  that  a  special  fly  was 
wanted  to  withstand  the  sharp  teeth  of  the  perch  ; 
and  after  many  experiments  I  found  the  follow- 
ing to  be  the  most  killing  combination.  It  is  a 
modification  of  the  ever  useful  "  Coachman."  I 
call  it  the  Bronze  Coachman  :  — 

Body,  of  the  bronze  tinsel  cord  one  gets  at  the 
dry-goods  stores  at  five  cents  or  so  a  ball.  It  is 
used  by  ladies  for  embroidering  on  velvet,  etc. 
Legs,  plenty  of  brown  hackle ;  wings,  white. 

With  this  fly  we  sometimes  caught  three  perch 
on  a  line  at  one  time ;  of  course  using  three 
flies.  These  flies  were  made  on  a  No.  6  hook. 
(See  Fig.  33.) 

A  Brown  Hackle  is  a  capital  fly  also  for  perch. 
So  is  what  is  known  as  the  Soldier  Palmer.  This 
fly  has  a  red  silk  or  woollen  yarn  body ;  and  one 
hackle  is  tied  in  at  the  bend  of  the  hook  or  tail 
end  of  the  body,  and  run  up  in  several  coils  to 
the  head,  and  there  fastened  ;  another  one  is  then 
tied  in  at  the  head  in  the  ordinary  way. 

Either  of  these  flies  will  also  catch  the  lively 
little  sun-fishes  ;  and  I  do  not  by  any  means  dis- 
dain this  small  fry,  if  fished  for  on  the  trout-rod 
with  fine  gut  and  small  hooks. 


126  ^  SUMMER  ANGLING 

The  wall-eyed  pike,  white  perch,  and  even  pick- 
erel, will  take  a  fly  ;  and  in  the  waters  of  Plorida 
almost  every  fish  that  swims  will  respond  to  a 
gaudy  fly  or  insect.  I  therefore  strongly  advise 
my  boy  readers  to  make  the  fly-rod  and  its  acces- 
sories their  chief  thought  in  fishing.  Fly-fishing 
is  the  fine  art  of  angling,  and  they  will  never  re- 
gret the  time  and  pains  exi:)ended  on  it.  The  lord 
of  all  sporting  fishes  is  the  salmon,  and  he  is 
chiefly  captured  with  the  beautiful  creations  of 
the  fly-makers'  fingers.  In  the  years  of  maturity 
my  readers  will  doubtless  come  to  fish  for  and 
catch  this  superb  fish,  and  these  pages  are  in- 
tended as  preparatory  lessons  for  so  doing.  But 
all  must  begin  with  this  alphabet  before  going 
farther. 

The  memories  of  many  adventures  in  pursuit  of 
fish  with  the  fly-rod  arise  in  my  mind  as  I  ap- 
proach the  end  of  this  chapter,  and  I  am  minded 
to  tell  of  a  coincidence  that  occurs  to  me  now 
when  thoughts  of  summer  fly-fishing  are  com- 
manding the  attention. 

A  fish-story,  to  be  generally  palatable,  must  be 
very  highly  spiced  with  romance.  This  one  is  a 
record  of  veritable  experience. 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   ETC.  12/ 

My  narrative  really  consists  of  two  separate 
stories,  each  being  perfectly  distinct  and  complete 
in  itself.  The  incidents  occurred  many  years  and 
thousands  of  miles  apart.  But  coincidence  con- 
nects them  with  each  other  in  the  fact  that  they 
both  occurred  on  the  same  date,  May  ist,  and  that 
their  salient  features  were  alike,  as  were  also  their 
results.  "  So  much,"  to  quote  old  Izaak  Walton, 
"  for  the  prologue  of  what  I  mean  to  say." 

I  was  born  on  the  banks  of  the  English 
Thames  ;  how  long  ago  it  does  not  boot  to  say. 
My  father,  and  generations  of  his  ancestors,  were 
professional  Thames  fishermen,  so  it  is  easy  to 
understand  that  I  loved  and  learned  fishing  as 
soon  as  I  could  walk  —  nay,  I  am  given  to  under- 
stand that  I  caught  my  first  fish  before  I  could 
walk.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  could  handle  a  rod 
long  before  most  boys  hear  of  one,  and  I  was  a 
constant  companion  of  my  father  whenever  pos- 
sible. He  was  a  great  fisherman,  —  I  say  it  advis- 
edly, —  keen  of  eye,  intuitive,  an  athlete,  and  a  fish 
lover,  and  particularly  was  he  a  great  trout-fisher- 
man. The  Thames  trout  is  a  brown  trout  {Salmo 
faiio),  and  grows  to  sixteen  pounds  on  exceptional 
occasions,  and  averages,  or  did,  from  seven  to  ten 


128  SUMMER  ANGLING 

pounds.  He  is  a  vara  avis  of  the  water,  I  am 
bound  to  admit.  But  my  progenitor  rarely  failed 
to  capture  the  "  sockdolager "  of  every  dam  or 
"  weir  "  above  the  tideway  each  season.  He  had 
his  own  methods.  Here  they  are,  in  brief :  The 
rod  was  a  light  red  deal  and  lancewood  rod  of 
some  fourteen  feet  (he  was  tall)  ;  the  line  was 
a  fine  strong  silk  one  ;  the  leader  was  a  six-foot 
length  of  good  stout  gut ;  and  the  one  hook  —  no 
gangs  of  ten  for  him  —  was  a  No.  i  Sproat  or 
Limerick.  His  bait  was  a  small  fish  named  bleak 
or  bley,  similar  to,  but  brighter  than,  a  "  shiner." 
The  manner  of  using  this  outfit  was  simple. 
These  large  trout  frequent  the  deep,  quiet  waters 
adjacent  to  the  rough  waters  of  the  dams  or 
"  weirs,"  and  there  in  some  corner  watch,  in  per- 
haps twenty  feet  of  water,  for  what  they  may  dis- 
cover. Now,  above  and  some  eight  or  ten  feet 
over  these  dams  is  built  a  beam  as  a  bridge-way  — 
a  single  beam,  without  railings ;  for  the  public 
were  not  supposed  to  use  it.  Only  danger-lov- 
ing English  boys  would  dare  to  run  along  its 
dizzy  path  and  gaze  into  the  tumbling  water  be- 
low ;  the  general  public  never  intruded.  This 
beam   always   formed   the    coign    of   vantage    on 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   ETC.  1 29 

which  my  father — and  none  but  himself  hitherto, 
owing  to  the  dizzying  effect  —  had  taken  his  stand 
for  the  glorious  Thames  trout.  From  this  stand- 
point the  bait  was  manipulated  deftly  across  and 
athwart  the  rushing  waters ;  and  there  was  fre- 
quently ten  or  fifteen  yards  of  loose  line  drawn 
from  the  reel  and  coiled  in  a  figure  eight  in  the 
hand  preparatory  to  casting.  Many  a  time  had  I 
watched  his  dexterous  movements  with  envy ;  and 
once,  after  aiding  to  boat  a  particularly  large  fish,  I 
remember  the  resolve  was  suddenly  born  in  my  boy- 
ish heart  that  I  would,  could,  and  must  do  likewise. 
The  fishing  season  began  in  April,  but  was  best 
a  little  later ;  and  behold  me,  therefore,  one  bright 
May  Day  morning,  a  boy  of  about  twelve,  early  in 
the  light  skiff,  eager  to  reach  the  vicinity  of  the 
"  weir."  I  remember  the  joy  I  felt  :  it  comes  back 
to  me  now ;  and  also  the  scent  of  the  hawthorn 
hedges,  with  their  masses  of  white  bloom  ;  the 
carol  of  the  skylark,  the  song  of  the  thrush  and 
the  blackbird,  and  even  the  brilliant  azure  and 
orange-red  hues  of  the  kingfisher  as  he  darted  by 
—  all  nature  was  radiant  !  I  soon  reached  the 
venerable  weir  ;  and,  selecting  with  a  general's  eye 
the  most  "  likely  "  spot,  I  made  the  boat  fast,  and 


130  SUMMER   ANGLING 

climbed  lightly  on  to  the  beam.  Very  soon  I  was 
sitting  astride  it,  and  deftly  casting  the  brilliant 
minnow,  and  manoeuvring  it  from  cataract  to  eddy 
through  the  myriad  jewelled  spray.  As  it  skipped 
and  danced  from  crest  to  crest,  it  seemed  like  some 
silvern  butterfly  rather  than  a  fish.  Herein  lay  its 
attraction  ;  and  before  I  had  fished  twenty  minutes 
the  great  tortoise-shell  shoulders  of  a  big  trout 
heaved  above  the  torrent,  and  with  a  determined 
plunge  he  had  seized  the  bait,  and  sunk  for  his* 
watery  lair.  How  well  I  remember  the  thrill  of 
awe-like  ecstasy  I  felt  !  And  then  began  the  l)at- 
tie.  I  will  not  attempt  its  description.  Such  com- 
bats have  been  portrayed  by  more  masterly  pens 
than  mine.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  from  my 
high  post,  it  was  one  of  tragic  interest  to  me  as 
well  as  the  fish ;  and  just  as  the  latter  seemed  to 
become  sufficiently  amenable  to  reason  to  allow  of 
my  seeking  the  shore,  with  a  view  to  landing  him, 
I  remember  the  top  of  my  head  seemed  to  be 
swimming  off  somewhere ;  then  the  water  became 
sheets  of  silver  flame  —  I  staggered,  recovered  my- 
self, for  I  had  risen  on  the  narrow  bridge,  the  bet- 
ter to  traverse  it  shoreward  ;  then  the  loose  line 
dropped  from  my  left  hand,  and,  without  further 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   ETC.  I3I 

to-do,  I  rolled  off  into  the  boiling  torrent  below,  — 
down  —  down  —  down  to  the  abysmal  depths.  The 
cold  water  revived  my  mind,  and  with  a  good  diver's 
prescience  I  held  my  breath,  and  sought  to  emerge 
from  *the  curling,  eddying,  twisting  fury  of  the 
maelstrom  of  which  I  was  the  sport.  Try  as  I 
would,  I  found  my  arms  and  legs  held  as  in  a  vice, 
and  powerless ;  then  after  a  time,  interminable  as 
it  seemed,  I  was  violently  thrust  forward,  as  by 
some  strong  human  arm,  and  found  I  was  ascend- 
ing. With  one  convulsive  kick  I  arose  amidst  a 
great  clot  of  white  foam,  which  I  remember  to  this 
day  looked  like  a  great  sky  window  from  below. 
My  breath  came  back  convulsively,  and,  oh  how 
painfully  and  chokingly !  and  in  another  moment  I 
was  washed  on  to  the  shallow  riffle  ten  or  twelve 
rods  below  the  dam.  There  I  lay  for  quite  a  time, 
till  I  could  cough  up  what  water  I  had  unavoidably 
swallowed.  Finally,  I  began  to  realize.  The  first 
poignant  thought  was  the  fish.  The  loose  line 
had  wound  round  and  round  my  legs  and  body,  and 
even  arms,  in  the  eddy ;  but  still  something  was  at- 
tached to  it.  This  was  the  rod.  Carefully  I  drew 
it  up  unbroken  and  reeled  in  the  line,  which  I  had 
disengaged  from  my  body.     There  was  still  a  lot  of 


132  SUMMER  ANGLING 

line  in  tne  water,  apparently  entangled  tip  stream. 
I  unsteadily  wound  it  in  —  it  was  fast  around  the 
woodwork  of  the  dam.  I  tried  to  draw  it  to  me 
—  then  suddenly  out  sped  the  still  attached  fish. 
Was  ever  such  good  fortune  }  Reader,  I  fought 
that  fish  aneWj  and  landed  him.  He  weighed  seven 
and  a  quarter  pounds  I  He  should  have  been  lost 
to  me,  I  know,  according  to  usage  in  all  fishing 
stories,  but  —  I  cannot  tell  a  lie  ! 

This  occurred  at  Chertsey  Weir,  England,  a.d. 
1867;  and  many  yet  live  near  the  spot  who  can 
attest  the  occurrence. 

My  second  episode  occurred  in  1 891,  at  the  East 
Greenwich  Dam,  Batten  Kill  River,  Washington 
Co.,  N.Y.  Time  of  year,  also  May  ist.  A  glori- 
ous morning  for  the  fisherman  was  this  when  I 
drove  up  to  Lake's  Hotel  "  as  the  gray  dawn  was 
breaking."  The  robins  were  still  at  matins  around 
the  house,  and  very  soon  I  had  mine  host  and  his 
satellites  roused.  A  keen  sportsman  he ;  and  to  his 
salutation  I  returned,  "  Is  the  dam  in  good  order 
for  fishing }  "  receiving  an  affirmative  reply  in  no 
uncertain  tone.  No  boat  being  on  the  river,  I  had 
taken  my  "  Acme  "  canvas  folding  boat,  intending 
to  fly-fish  all  the  likely  spots  of  this  famous  trout 


FLY-FISHING  FOR  BASS,   ETC.  1 33 

water.  Very  soon  I  had  the  boat  geared  ;  and 
whilst  one  of  the  men  carried  her  to  the  water,  I 
took  my  "  morning  draught,"  as  quaint  old  Walton 
would  term  it.  That  duly  accomplished,  and  with 
rod  lightly  arranged,  I  stepped  into  the  fragile 
bark,  and  was  pushed  off  into  the  stream. 

In  this  instance  I  was  below  the  dam,  and 
intended  approaching  as  near  as  might  be  advisa- 
ble, and  anchoring,  altering  positions  to  suit  cir- 
cumstances. A  select  crowd  had  gathered  on  the 
shore,  and  were  taking  in  the  situation  with  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  I  soon  increased  their  admiration  by 
boating  a  nice  little  twelve-ounce  fish.  Now,  this 
dam  was  built  for  supplying  a  knitting  and  flour 
mill  near  by,  and  is  not  at  all  a  formidable  one,  its 
fall  not  being  more  than  ten  feet  ;  but  at  the  time 
of  which  I  am  writing,  a  very  respectable  volume 
of  water  was  coming  over,  and  there  was,  at  one 
part  near  the  side,  a  swift  and  powerful  undertow, 
—  a  fact  of  which  I  was  yet  unaware.  Presently, 
however,  a  good  fish  rose  to  my  Royal  Coachman  ; 
and  as  I  struck  him,  and  saw  him  plunge,  I  knew 
it  was  a  two-pounder  at  least.  How  he  did  fight ! 
And  finally,  finding  I  should  have  trouble  in  boat- 
ing him,  the  boat  being  so  light,  and   I  being  so 


134  SUMMER  ANGLING 

heavy  for  it,  I  determined  to  raise  anchor  and  let 
her  drift  to  the  shallow  water,  where  I  could  step 
out  and  accomplish  the  deed.  The  raising  of  the 
stone  anchor  I  easily  accomplished  with  one  hand, 
and  then  prepared  to  manage  the  fish.  As  the 
boat  drifted,  however,  I  found  she  took  a  rather 
erratic  course,  which,  being  so  light  (seventy 
pounds  only),  I  attributed  to  the  pressure  I  was 
putting  on  the  fish.  At  all  events,  I  suddenly 
realized  that  we  were  in  the  undertow,  and  rapidly 
approaching  the  dam's  fullest  rush  of  water.  Once 
under  that,  and,  with  my  heavy  boots  and  other 
paraphernalia,  I  was  doomed.  I  tried  to  row  her 
free,  but  the  hold  of  that  fell  stream  was  great. 
Still  I  should  have  rescued  her  had  not  the  light 
oar  broken.  Then,  when  there  was  nothing  else 
to  do,  I  jumped  ;  and,  as  fortune  would  have  it,  I 
escaped  by  some  miraculous  means  the  force  of 
the  reflecting  current,  and,  with  nothing  more  than 
a  good  ducking  and  some  excitement,  I  swam  as 
best  I  could,  and  was  pulled  out  on  terra  firma. 

What  of  the  boat .''  Well,  released  from  my 
weight,  she  floated  on  the  upper  stratum  of  the 
current,  and  was  stranded  a  few  hundred  yards 
lower   down.     And  ''what  of   the  fish.''"   do   you 


FLY-FISHING   FOR   BASS,   ETC.  1 35 

ask.  M'  yes,  I  cannot  tell  a  lie.  I  didn't  find  it 
still  on.  It  broke  loose  !  But  it  weighed  just  two 
pounds  seven  ounces^  all  tJie  same.  I  am  positive 
of  that.     And  this  is  how  I  know  :  — 

Two  months  later  I  was  fishing  the  dam  of  a 
flax-mill  lower  down  the  same  river.  It  was 
evening  ;  and  as  the  soft-winged  moths  fluttered 
alongside  my  own  artificial  white  miller,  I  "rose" 
a  fish  and  hooked  him.  Moreover,  I  landed  him  ; 
and  in  his  mouth  were  the  remains  of  my  identical 
Royal  Coachman  fly,  lost  at  the  upper  dam  in  the 
early  season.  No  one  makes  this  fly  just  as  I  do. 
This  fish  weighed  two  pounds  seven  ounces  exactly, 
—  that  is  why  I  am  positive  of  the  weight  of  the 
lost  one,  you  see ! 


PART   III 


AUTUMN  ANGLING 


CHAPTER   VII 

MINNO^W-FISHING   FOR  TROUT 

It  is  not  usual  to  fish  with  a  minnow  for  any 
trout  except  the  Salmo  nmnaycush,  or  Great  Lake 
trout,  in  this  country ;  but  those  who  have  tried 
it  for  brook  trout,  including  myself,  find  it  quite 
as  deadly  as  the  fly  or  worm.  I  shall  not  describe 
the  process  of  trolling  for  the  lake  trout,  asv  it  is  a 
sport  that  is  rather  outside  the  reach  of  my  young 
readers,  further  than  to  say  a  gang  of  hooks,  on 
which  a  shiner  is  impaled,  as  in  pickerel  trolling, 
is  ordinarily  used,  or  one  of  the  artificial  fish  (the 
"Caledonian "  Minnow  or  **  Phantom "  Bait)  is 
attached  to  the  line  and  towed  behind  a  boat  pre- 
cisely as  in  pickerel  trolling  —  in  principle,  though 
the  detail  may  vary.  The  Great  Lake  trout  is 
taken  in  spring  and  fall  by  this  method,  and  a 
grand  fish  it  is ;  but  if  one  can  use  the  minnow 
for  the  brook  trout,  he  may  be  pretty  certain  that 
the  lake  trout  fisherman  can  teach  him  but  little 
concerning  the  larger  fish. 

139 


I40  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

Now,  the  minnow  is  only  used  for  brook  trout 
on  rivers  where  it  is  known  large  trout  exist. 
These  large  fellows  are  also  very  hard  to  catcli 
with  the  fly  or  bait,  and  hence  it  is  not  unsports- 
manlike to  use  the  live  or  dead  minnow.  In  no 
case  need  the  young  sucker,  dace,  or  shiner  be 
longer  than  two  and  one-half  inches  ;  and  some- 
times, if  smaller,  the  sport  resulting  will  be  the 
more. 

The  live  minnow  must  first  claim  our  attention. 
Be  sure  they  are  got  from  some  cool  stream,  if  you 
are  to  use  them  near  springs,  where  the  large 
trout  do  most  congregate  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  If  you  do  not  pay  attention  to  this  little 
matter,  they  will  not  live  and  play  freely  on  the 
hook,  any  more  than  an  African  from  Central 
Africa  would  find  the  climate  of  the  Esquimau 
to  his  liking ;  but  they  will  certainly  die,  and 
that  sometimes  as  soon  as  they  touch  the  cooler 
water. 

The  tackle  you  must  use  for  the  live  minnow 
may  be  one  single  No.  2  hook  on  strong  gut,  with 
a  light  sinker  to  carry  the  bait  down,  or  it  may 
be  like  that  figured  ;  namely,  a  single  loop  hook  to 
go  through  the  bait's  lip,  and  a  triplet  hook  to  lie 


MINNOW-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  I4I 

by  side  the  bait  (Fig.  65).  In  the  case  of  the 
single-hook  tackle  there  is  a  good  chance  of  hook- 
ing the  fish,  but  in  the  case  of  the  triplet  hook 
arrangement  the  chance  is  far  better ;  and  espe- 
cially is  this  tackle  fitted  for  use  in  the  rapid 
water  of  dams,  etc.,  where  the  biggest  fish  un- 
doubtedly lie.  The  triplet  hook  simply  lies  along- 
side the  living  minnow,  and  it  is  worked  around  in 
the  likely  places  pretty  much  as  any  other  bait, 
taking  all  the  care  you  can,  of  course,  not  to  get 

'innidiififiiii'-  ^^ — 

Fig  65.— Gang  for  Liue-minnow  Fishing  for  Trout. 

"hung  up"  on  the  stones  or  sunken  logs,  boughs, 
etc. 

Sometimes,  when  trout  are  found  to  inhabit  the 
deep  springs  of  lakes,  a  large  glass  jar  may  be 
filled  with  minnows,  and  closed,  and  lowered  by  a 
line  near  their  hovers,  and  allowed  to  remain. 
Perch  and  trout  both  are  attracted  by  this  lure, 
and  I  know  of  several  instances  where  the  method 
has  been  exceedingly  successful.  There  are  no 
further  hints  to  be  given  on  this  head,  except  two 
words  of  advice.     Keep  your  bait  moving,  and  use 


142 


AUTUMN  ANGLING 


lively  minnows.  When  they  die,  take  them  off 
and  place  away  in  a  little  piece  of  tissue  paper,  in 
your  can  or  basket,  for  another  style  of  fishing ; 


viz.,  dead-minnow  fishing,  which  is  frequently  more 
deadly  than  fishing  with  the  live  bait. 

The  particular  form  of  dead-bait  fishing  I  prefer 
to   all   others   is   that    known    as    the    "  sink    and 


MINNOIV-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  1 43 

draw "  bait.  To  prepare  the  tackle,  you  take  a 
single  hook,  about  No.  3  (Fig.  33),  and,  having 
tied  it  to  double  or  extra  thick  gut,  slide  upon 
it  a  barrel  lead  or  sinker  (Fig.  66)  ;  let  this  be 
plugged,  so  that  the  lead  stays  as  shown.  To  use 
it,  a  bait  of  suitable  size  is  selected,  —  it  must  be 
dead,  of  course,  or  you  will  kill  it ;  and,  if  dead,  it 
must  be  fresh,  —  and  a  baiting-needle  (Pig.  6j), 
made  by  turning  the  end  of  a  thin,  piece  of  iron 
or  brass  wire,  is  attached  to  the  loop  of  the  gut 
by  the  eye.  The  needle  is  now  entered  into  the 
fish  by  the  mouth,  and  brought  out  exactly  in  the 
centre  of  the  tail  ;  the  gut  is  drawn  through,  and, 
finally,  the  lead  is  pulled  into  the  stomach  of  the 
bait,  leaving  the  hook  to  hang  around  its  mouth 
sufficiently  rank  or  outstanding  to  easily  hook  any 
fish  that  swallows  it.  The  tail  of  the  bait  is  tied 
round  with  a  piece  of  thread,  to  keep  the  gut  from 
tearing  out  if  the  tail  catches  in  anything  ;  and  the 
piece  of  tackle  is  now  ready  to  be  attached  to  the 
reel  line.  The  latter  should  be  fine,  and  not  a 
heavy  one,  and  the  rod  needs  to  be  light  and 
moderately  pliant. 

Having  attached  the  bait,  a  few  yards  of  line 
are  drawn  off  the  reel  with  the  left  hand,  and  the 


144 


AUTUMN  ANGLING 


bait  is  gently  urged  through  the  air,  rather  than 
cast  to  any  suitable  eddy  or  spot  likely  to  hold  a 
trout.  Letting  the  point  of  the  rod  droop,  the 
bait  "  shoots  headlong  through  the  blue  abyss,"  as 


Fig.  69. 
Trout  Gang  baited. 


Fig.  68.  —  Trout  Gang. 

a  poet  has  aptly  described  the  motion.  That  is 
the  "  sink  "  of  the  "  sink  and  draw "  bait-fishing. 
After  a  little  pause  the  point  of  the  rod  is  gently 


MINNOW-FISHING  FOR    TROUT  1 45 

lifted,  and  a  foot  or  two  of  the  line  gathered  in, 
and  the  bait  is  again  allowed  to  shoot  downward. 
It  is  generally  at  the  moment  of  the  headlong 
plunge  of  the  bait  that  the  trout  darts  out  and 
takes  the  bait.  If,  on  drawing  up,  you  find  that 
vicious  tug !  tug !  which  infallibly  denotes  a  fish, 
just  lower  the  point  of  the  rod  a  few  seconds,  and 
then  strike  sharply.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  you 
will  hook  the  fish,  and  must  proceed  to  land  him. 
You  will  find  that  in  every  case  your  fish  will  be 
the  largest,  not  the  smallest,  of  the  stream. 

A  gang  of  small  hooks  (Fig.  6Z)  is  easily  made, 
and  is  very  effective  if  plenty  of  swivels  are 
placed  above  it,  to  prevent  the  line  kinking  when 
the  bait  revolves,  as  it  will  do  when  baited  (Fig. 
69).  I,  however,  recommend  the  other  "  sink  and 
draw  "  tackle  in  preference  ;  though  such  a  gang  is 
very  useful  to  have  with  one  in  the  event  of  see- 
ing a  large  trout  unexpectedly,  which  will  take  no 
other  bait.  A  small  artificial  minnow  is  also  emi- 
nently useful  at  times,  and  sometimes  may  replace 
the  natural  bait,  but  not  often. 


146  AUTUMN  ANGLING 


CHAPTER   VIII 

BASS   FISHING   W^ITH   THE   MINNOW 

Bass  —  that  is,  black  bass  —  fishing  by  means 
of  the  minnow,  termed  technically  "  minnow-cast- 
ing," has  got  to  be  quite  a  distinct  science,  espe- 
cially with  the  Western  brethren  of  the  rod.  The 
rod  is  usually  a  nine-foot,  or  even  less,  lancewood 
or  bamboo  weapon,  with  standing  guides  of  ample 
size,  to  allow  the  line  easy  passage  through  them. 
The  line  is  of  the  best  make  one  can  afford ;  and 
the  reel  is  a  Gogebic,  or  Star  (Fig.  43),  or  other 
fine  reel  constructed  so  that  when  the  bait  is  cast 
its  friction  is  of  the  very  least,  and  the  line  runs 
out  till  the  thumb  stops  the  spool  of  the  reel,  and 
the  minnow  drops  on  the  water.  Of  course,  a 
sinker  must  be  attached  to  the  end  of  the  line  ; 
and  the  kind  of  leader,  sinker,  and  snell  I  invaria- 
bly use  myself  is  shown  at  Fig.  70,  with  one  to 
three  hooks. 

Now,  the  manner  of  making  this  cast  so  that 
the    bait's    head    is    not    jerked    off    in    the    rush 


BASS  FISHING    WITH  THE  MINNOW        1 4/ 

through  the  air  and  the  termination  of  it,  is  almost, 
if  not  quite,  impossible  to  describe.  Personally,  I 
favor  the  overhand  cast,  the  motion  of  throwing  a 
ball  in  baseball,  and  find  it  the  simplest  to  teach 
the  beginner.  Be  sure,  however,  to  practise  first 
with  a  sinker  miiiiis  hooks  and  bait,  on  the  grass 
or  snow  in  winter,  and  you  will  soon  get  the 
"  hang  of  it."  If  you  can  persuade  some  kind 
friend  to  give  you  a  lesson  or  two,  so  much  the 
better. 

This  method  of  casting  the  bait  is  distinctively 
American,  and  is  never  used  in  England,  where 
very  different  styles  of  bait-casting  prevail.  These 
are  termed  the  "  Nottingham  "  and  the  "  Thames  " 
styles.  The  former  is  a  "  round  arm  "  cast,  made 
with  both  hands  grasping  the  rod  handle,  and  from 
a  light  wooden  reel,  the  finger  of  the  right  hand 
acting  as  a  brake  on  the  circumference  of  the  outer 
reel  plate,  which  revolves  ;  the  "  Thames  "  style  is 
more  easily  learnt,  and  for  short  casting  may  be  of 
use  to  the  novice. 

Briefly,  these  are  the  proceedings.  The  rod  is 
grasped  firmly  in  the  right  hand,  and  a  few  yards 
of  line  drawn  off  the  reel ;  these  are  gathered  in 
the  palm  of  the  hand  in  a  form  of  the  figure  8  by 


148  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

a  reciprocating  motion  of  the  finger  and  thumb 
and  ball  of  the  hand  (or  lower  part  of  the  palm) 
and  little  finger,  bending  the  wrist  back  and  forth 
the  while.  This  gathers  up  the  line  slowly  for 
the  cast ;  and  when  the  point  of  the  rod  urges  the 
bait  forward,  the  line  goes  out  without  hindrance. 
It  is  a  pretty  method  of  fishing. 

In  general,  bass  fishing  where  the  live  minnow 
or  other  bait  may  be  used,  the  "  paternoster  "  (as 
it  is  termed  in  England  for  want  of  a  better  name) 
is  decidedly  the  most  useful  contrivance  (Fig.  70), 
for  the  simple  reason  that  it  permits  of  three  baits 
of  different  kinds  being  used  at  one  time ;  and  the 
angler  may  attach  a  minnow  to  the  bottom  hook, 
a  dobson  to  the  next,  and  a  frog  to  the  highest 
one,  with  the  certainty  that  they  will  be  kept  in 
motion  by  the  moving  fish.  Sometimes  the  bass 
won't  take  a  bait  fish  ;  and  if  this  be  so,  even  a  fly 
can  be  attached  to  find  out  if  they  will  take  that. 
They  are  very  capricious,  especially  in  midsum- 
mer. 

The  "  sink  and  draw  "  bait  mentioned  as  useful 
for  trout  is  a  very  good  bait  also  for  the  basses, 
as  also  is  the  "  Caledonian  minnow,"  and  "  Phan- 
tom." 


BASS  FISHING    WITH   THE   MINNOW 


149 


PICKEREL    FISHING    WITH    A    MINNOW. 

Pickerel  may  be  caught  in  precisely  the  same 
manner  as  bass  ;    that  is,  with  the  live  minnow, 


? 


and  with  the  dead  "  gorge  "  bait,  or  "  sink  and 
draw."  Trolling  with  a  gang  is  also  a  killing 
method,  and  requires  no  further  instructions  than 


150  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

are  given  for  bass  to  make  the  method  of  procedure 
plain.  The  only  difference  consists  in  the  neces- 
sity for  using  very  strong  tackle  ;  and  if  I  know  I 
am  likely  to  get  pickerel  or  mascalonge,  I  tie  my 
hooks  to  fine  piano  wire,  otherwise,  the  razor-like 
teeth  of  these  fish  will  bite  through  the  snell. 
The  wall-eyed  pike  {Stizostedion  vitretini)  is  amena- 
ble to  bass  treatment,  and  in  Lake  Champlain  and 


Fig.  71.— Larvae  of  Dragon  Fly,  or  "What  is  It?" 

other  waters  is  an  agreeable  relief,  being  a  gamey 
and  palatable  fish. 

BASS    FISHING    WITH    DIFFERENT    BAITS 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  killing  of  baits  for  the 
bass  in  summer  is  the  larva  of  the  dragon-fly  (Fig. 
71).  This  creature  is  obtained  from  the  weeds 
one  finds  in  waters  where  the  dragon-flies  (or 
"  devil's  darning-needles  ")  most  frequent,  and  are 
termed  by  anglers,  in  some  parts  of  New   York 


BASS  FISHING    WITH   THE   MINNOW 


51 


State,  "  What  is  It  ?  "  The  odd  appearance,  and  the 
variations  in  that  appearance,  are  sufficient  to  puz- 
zle the  ordinary  observer  ;  but  my  boy  readers  may 


Fig.  72.  —  The  Dobson,  or  Helgramite. 

recognize  the  creature  pretty  surely  from  the  above 
cut. 

The  dobson  (Fig.   72)- really  deserves  a  chapter 
by  itself.      It  is  the  larva  of  a  large  fly  (Corydaliis 


152  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

cornutus)y  and  wherever  it  is  found,  there  will  it 
catch  bass.  Moreover,  it  is  a  very  sure  thing  that 
bass  will  thrive  in  the  waters  that  produce  it,  and 
that  they  are  pretty  generally  to  be  found  there- 
abouts, even  as  the  silver  birch-tree  is  a  sign  that 
the  soil  and  water  will  do  for  trout.  This  '*  Dob- 
son  "  has  also  about  a  score  more  local  names  ; 
and  few  boys  living  on  the  banks  of  bass  rivers 
will  fail  to  remember  its  decidedly  interesting  but 
pugnacious  appearance. 

In  the  winter  the  dobson  cannot  be  found  in 
the  water,  but  hides  itself  deep  in  the  earth  be- 
neath stones  and  debris,  especially  if  the  latter 
be  woody.  Early  in  spring  it  may  be  dug  up  from 
such  positions  ;  but  as  time  goes  on  it  seeks  the 
water  and  lives  under  stones,  where  it  can  be 
caught  with  a  net  of  mosquito-netting.  As  its 
breathing  apparatus  permits  it  living  in  either  air 
or  water,  it  can  be  kept  among  half-rotten  chips  of 
wood  in  a  box  all  summer  without  other  food,  if 
once  a  day  the  can  or  box  be  flooded  with  cool 
water,  and  this  water  carefully  drained  out  again. 
The  dobson  should  be  hooked  under  the  hard  cara- 
pace or  armor-piece  at  the  back  of  the  neck, 
taking  care  that  you  hold  it  firmly  by  the  back 


BASS  FISHING    WITH   THE   MINNOW        1 53 

with  the  left  finger  and  thumb,  or  you  may  receive 
from  a  male  dobson  such  a  nip  as  will  startle  you, 
and  probably  cause  you  to  drop  the  repulsive  and 
savage  creature  in  disgust.  Of  course  this  nip 
with  the  mandibles  is  not  poisonous. 

The  crayfish,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  termed,  the 
fresh-water  crab,  is  another  very  good  bait  for 
large  bass.  These  live  under  the  stones  and 
woodwork  incidental  to  mill-streams,  and  where 
they  are  plentiful  are  easy  to  catch  in  the  follow- 
ing way  :  Select  a  dark  night.  Have  ready  some 
mosquito-netting  tied  on  a  wire  hoop  for  a  net.  In 
the  centre  of  this  secure  a  lump  of  lead  and  a 
piece  of  fresh  liver.  Attach  your  net  to  a  pole  by 
means  of  three  cords  extending  from  it  to  the  cir- 
cumference of  frame  of  the  net,  and  sink  it  in  the 
spot  where  you  have  reason  to  suspect  the  exist- 
ence of  these  crayfish.  Every  now  and  then  lift 
it  suddenly,  and  you  will  find  sometimes  half  a 
dozen  crayfish  at  a  time  feeding  on  the  liver.  Of 
course  if  you  have  half  a  dozen  nets  to  attend  to, 
so  much  the  better. 

Frogs  are  specially  good  bait  for  bass.  They 
are  most  useful  when  young,  about  an  inch  long, 
and  can  be  kept  an  indefinite  time  in  a  cool  place 


154  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

in  grass  ;  but  you  must  be  careful  not  to  allow  the 
least  chink  of  light,  if  you  would  save  them  from 
vain  efforts  to  escape.  They  should  be  hooked 
under  the  skin  of  the  back.  A  little  fold  only 
need  be  pierced,  and  the  frog  will  live  a  long  time. 

TROUT    FISHING    WITH    THE    GRASSHOPPER    AND 
CRICKET. 

All  through  the  summer  and  autumn  the  angler 
can  find  the  bass  and  perch  ready  for  his  lures  ; 
and  amid  such  a  wealth  of  sport  he  must  not  for- 
get that  the  trout  fishing  closes  long  before  the 
bass  ceases  to  feed.  A  few  golden  days  are  there 
on  most  streams  containing  the  "  Apollo  of  the 
fountains,"  when  the  grasshopper  and  cricket  are 
a  delicious  bonne  boiicJie  to  the  trout.  At  such 
times  let  my  pupil  collect  a  goodly  number  of 
the  red-legged  grasshopper  (for  he  it  is  who  is 
the  prime  favorite),  and  also  a  goodly  number  of  the 
black  field-cricket.  He  can  get  the  former  with  a 
butterfly  net  wherever  they  abound,  and  the  latter 
are  to  be  got  in  this  wise.  Strip  off  any  pieces  of 
loose  bark  from  dying  trees,  and  lay  it  near  to 
fences  where  the  crickets  can  crawl,  and  there  be 
discovered.     Let  the  wood  remain  overnight,  and 


BASS  FISHING    WITH  THE  MINNOW       155 

go  early  in  the  morning,  and  underneath  will  be 
found  some  of  the  plumpest  of  the  black  crickets. 
An  old  Vermont  trout  fisherman  told  me  this,  and 
I  have  verified  it.  A  small  fine  hook,  very  sharp, 
is  the  best  for  grasshopper  fishing,  size  No.  6  (Fig. 

33). 

There  is  one  little  hint  in  connection  with  this 
fishing  that  needs  imparting.  When  the  trout 
seizes  the  bait,  he  usually  does  so  savagely,  and 
only  to  crush  it.  Consequently,  wait  until  he  turns 
again  to  swallow  it  before  you  strike,  and  you  will 
catch  your  fish.  Otherwise  you  will  not.  A  dis- 
abled "  hopper "  cast  on  the  stream  once  in  a 
while  will  set  the  fish  feeding  on  your  hook  that 
is  baited. 

One  other  form  of  fun-making  fishing  occurs  to 
me  before  I  close  this  chapter.  All  through  the 
early  summer  and  late  fall  both  bullheads  and  eels 
will  take  a  bait  ;  but  as  they  are  nocturnal  in  their 
habits,  it  is  only  at  night  one  gets  really  good 
sport  with  them.  Bullhead  fishing  is  usually 
practised  on  a  dark  night  —  preferably,  just  after  a 
heavy  warm  rain,  and  the  lines  are  primitive 
enough.  Large  sized  eyed  hooks  are  tied  to 
lines,  of  which  two    are  enough  for  each  angler. 


156  AUTUMN  ANGLING 

These  lines  are  linen  braided,  and  have  a  sinker 
attached  to  each,  a  loop  being  tied  in  the  end. 
The  hook  snell  is  also  linen  ;  and  in  fishing  it  is 
best  not  to  wait  to  take  the  hook  out  of  the  fish, 
for  the  reason  that  a  nasty  wound  may  come  of 
handling  the  spiny,  slimy  bullhead,  and  a  sore  fore- 
finger will  certainly  result  from  your  efforts  in  un- 
hooking him,  if  you  persist  in  doing  so.  Therefore, 
I  suggest  tying  the  snell  hook  each  time  with  the 
tie  shown  (Fig.  yi).     The  free  end  at  A  can  be 


Fig.   73.  —  Attaching  Loop  and  Knot  for  Night  Fishing. 

drawn  out  with  the  teeth  every  time,  and  the  fish 
dropped  into  the  receptacle  minus  handling,  which, 
let  me  assure  you,  if  the  fish  run  large  is  no  small 
consideration.  Eels  can  be  caught  in  precisely  the 
same  way,  and  with  the  same  tackle  ;  and  if  you  are 
careful  not  to  let  the  tail  of  the  fish  curl  around 
anything,  he  can  be  released  at  once. 

Bobbing  for  both  bullheads  and  eels  is  another 
good  way  of  fishing.  A  "  bob  "  is  made  by  taking 
a    darning-needle    and    some    worsted    yarn,    and 


BASS  FISHING    WITH  THE  MINNOW       1 5/ 

threading  large  worms  on  it,  making  a  loose  tie  at 
intervals,  and  so  continuing  till  a  large,  hideous 
squirming  mass  of  worms  is  formed,  more  or  less 
in  the  form  of  a  ball.  This  is  thrown  overboard, 
attached  to  a  stout  line,  and,  as  the  fish  bite,  is 
hauled  up  quickly,  but  not  too  hurriedly.  The 
fish  are  too  voracious  to  let  go,  and,  their  teeth 
being  sharp,  they  are  drawn  up,  and  can  be  lifted 
into  the  boat.  Of  course  a  lantern  is  necessary 
in  all  these  night  excursions.  I  cannot  say  I  par- 
ticularly care  for  this  kind  of  sport,  but  it  is  some- 
times amusing  when  no  other  is  available. 


PART    IV 


WINTER   ANGLING 


■    CHAPTER    IX 

FISHING   THROUGH   THE    ICE 

When  the  ice  king  has  clothed  every  lake  and 
stream,  and  the  ordinary  styles  of  fishing  can  no 
longer  be  indulged  in,  fishing  through  the  ice  be- 
comes at  once  a  healthful  sport,  and  one  produc- 
tive of  palatable  food,  and  possibly  of  a  little  fish- 
ing-tackle money  to  the  juvenile  angler  from  the 
sale  of  his  superfluous  capture.  For  this  style  of 
fishing  is  well  fitted  for  the  strong,  healthy  boy 
when  no  other  occupation  demands  his  attention. 
He  has  the  glorious  sunshine  sparkling  on  the 
white  snow ;  with  his  skates  firmly  attached,  he 
can  glide  from  tip-ujD  to  tip-up,  breathing  in  great 
volumes  of  oxygen  in  the  cold  air  ;  and  besides 
this,  he  is  catching  fish,  —  for  sure,  —  if  he  will 
go  about  it  as  I  am  about  to  direct. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  necessary  to  provide  the 
tackle.  The  most  interesting  form  of  ice-fishing 
is  by  means  of  the  "  tip-up  ; "  and  the  simplest 
form  of  this  is  a  twig  set  up  at  an  acute  angle  to 

i6i 


1 62 


WINTER  ANGLING 


Fig.  74. 
Improved  "Tip-Up. 


the  ice,  and  on  the  tip  of  this  is 
hung  the  Hne,  to  which  a  piece 
of  red  stuff  has  been  attached. 
When  the  fish  takes  the  bait,  it 
pulls  the  piece  of  flag  off  the 
twig,  and  the  angler  knows  at 
once  that  a  fish  has  been  at 
work,  and  runs  to  the  hole  to 
superintend  the  allowance  of 
line  the  fish  requires  whilst 
pouching  or  swallowing  the 
minnow.  There  are  various 
reasons  why  the  primitive  form 
of  "tip-up,"  however,  should 
give  place  to  one  of  more  cer- 
tain usefulness ;  and  the  appa- 
ratus I  am  about  to  describe 
out-distances  the  twig,  as  the 
split  cane  rod  goes  beyond  the 
"  pole  "  cut  from  the  brush 
alongside   the   water. 

Get  some  half-inch  deal  board 
and  cut  out  pieces,  as  many  as 
you  require,  in  the  shape  of  an 
outline  of    Fig.    74.       There   is 


FISHING    THROUGH   THE  ICE  1 63 

no  difficulty  about  this.  Next,  with  a  brace  and 
bit  bore  two  holes,  one  at  each  end,  at  A ;  then 
with  a  chisel  take  out  the  middle  of  each  board, 
as  shown.  Now  procure  some  stout  iron  wire  ; 
but  previously  to  bending  it  there  is  a  lead 
sinker  to  go  on  the  upper  end,  at  B.  This 
sinker  is  best  made  by  boring  into  the  end  of 
a  piece  of  green  hard  wood,  and  driving  a  nail 
down  into  the  centre  of  the  hole  for  a  cylindrical 
mould.  One  mould  will  cast  a  dozen  or  more 
sinkers,  and  the  lead  can  be  melted  in  a  ladle  over 
the  cook-stove  fire  without  causing  inconvenience. 
The  wire  now  is  cut  into  lengths  exactly  the 
length  of  the  space  in  the  middle  of  the  board, 
and  one  loop  is  twisted  at  C.  Through  this  a 
nail  is  driven,  including  both  sides  of  the  board  ; 
and  the  wire  should  now  swing  freely  round  and 
round  on  this  nail,  as  on  an  axle.  A  lead  is  now 
slipped  on  the  upper  arm  of  the  lead  (B),  and  a 
hook  is  formed  in  the  wire  (D).  To  the  end  of 
the  other  arm  is  tied  a  piece  of  old  red  cotton  or 
woollen  cloth,  and  about  forty  feet  of  stout  braided 
linen  line  should  be  attached  to  the  middle  of  the 
"  tip-up  "  at  E.  To  the  other  end  of  the  line,  of 
course,  the  hook  is  tied,  which  is  preferably  a  Vir- 


1 64 


WINTER  ANGLING 


ginian  hook  not  less  than  one-half  inch  across 
opposite  the  barb,  and  as  large  as  No.  i%  (Fig- 
33).  The  tip-up  is  set  in  ice-fishing  as  shown 
(Fig.  75).     A  is  the  line  on  which  the  hook  and 


Fig,  75.  —  Tip-Up  set  on  the  Ice. 

bait,  plumbed  so  as  to  be  sustained  about  one  foot 
from  the  bottom,  are  let  down  through  the  ice  ;  B 
is  the  "tip-up,"  set  obliquely,  held  by  the  chunks 
of  ice  cut  out  of  the  hole  ;  C  is  the  line  coiled. 
Observe  how  it  works.     As  soon  as  a  fish  takes 


FISHING    THROUGH   THE   ICE  1 65 

the  bait  he  pulls  on  the  line  A,  which  pulls  down 
the  wire  hook  at  D.  This  throws  the  line  loose, 
so  that  the  fish  can  uncoil  and  take  what  it  wants 
of  C,  whilst  the  lead  sinker  slides  down  to  the 
hook  on  the  wire  {a),  and  up  flies  the  red  pen- 
nant, telling  to  everybody  interested  that  a  fish 
has  bitten.  (The  dotted  lines  indicate  this  mo- 
ment). The  angler's  duty  now  is  to  proceed  as 
fast  as  his  legs  will  carry  him  to  the  tip-up,  care- 
fully ease  out  the  line,  so  that  the  fish  be  not 
checked,  and  after  waiting  five  minutes  by  the 
watch  proceed  to  haul  in  the  fish. 

If  these  *'tip-ups"  are  set  for  any  length  of 
time,  and  if  they  be  left,  they  will  certainly  be 
frozen  in ;  and  no  one  can  do  less  or  more  than 
cut  them  out  with  an  axe,  or  wait  till  spring 
'  comes.  Even  during  the  day's  fishing  we  are 
supposing,  it  becomes  necessary  to  incessantly 
keep  the  ice  from  accumulating  or  freezing  in 
the  hole  that  is  cut.  To  obviate  this,  and  even 
allow  of  the  tip-up  being  set  for  days,  I  have 
found  the  following  device  quite  successful ;  and 
as  it  invariably  happens  that  a  fish  gets  on  dur- 
ing the  night  or  early  morning,  it  is  sometimes 
quite  desirable    to   keep    the    tip-ups   set    all    the 


1 66  WINTER   ANGLING 

time.  Get  a  number  of  stout  sticks  about  eigh- 
teen inches  long,  and  boring  through  the  centre 
of  each  at  right  angles,  thrust  about  one  foot  of 
thick  iron  wire  through,  and  turn  a  loop  in  the 
end  (Fig.  'j6).  When  this  line  is  set,  the  stick  is 
laid  crosswise  over  the  hole,  with  the  rod  and  loop 
downward  (Fig.  ^6).  Of  course  if  the  ice  is 
likely  to  be  thicker  than  a  foot,  this  wire  ought  to 
be  longer.  It  should  reach  into  the  water  at  least 
three  inches.  To  it  is  attached  the  line,  which, 
when  you  are  setting  it,  is  first  wound  up  round 
your  thumb  and  finger  in  a  figure  8  fashion,  and 
then  attached,  as  shown  (Fig.  Jj),  to  the  pieces  of 
wire  shaped  as  in  Fig.  78.  I  think  the  diagrams 
quite  explain  themselves. 

The  ice-fishers  in  Canada,  and  on  Champlain 
and  the  other  large  lakes,  make  a  large  revenue ; 
but  it  is  not  to  that  class  that  I  am  addressing 
myself.  On  Champlain,  when  fishing  for  perch, 
the  eye  of  the  fish  is  used  almost  exclusively ;  but 
for  ordinary  fishing  for  ling,  burbot,  wall-eyed 
pike,  perch,  and  pickerel,  small  fish  are  the  bait  — 
and  very  excellent  bait  they  prove  to  be.  Spear- 
ing and  netting  through  the  ice  are  also  practised ; 
but  I  find  little  sport  or  pleasure  in  this,  and  do 


FISHING    THROUGH  THE  ICE  1 6/ 


lb 


Fig.  76.— "Tip-Up"  Sticli. 


Fig.  77.— Parts  of  "Tip-Up. 


0 

Fig.  78.  — Parts  of  "Tip-Up. 


1 68  WINTER  ANGLING 

not  recommend  my  young  friends  to  pursue  it.  I 
want  them  all  to  be  true  sportsmen  —  first,  last, 
and  all  the  time  ;  and  so  I  have  been  careful  that 
not  one  word  in  all  this  book  gives  a  hint  of  any- 
thing but  angling  with  a  hook  and  line,  so  that 
the  quarry  the  angler  is  pursuing  for  food  and  fun 
may  have  a  good  chance  for  its  life  every  time. 

The  other  forms  of  winter  fishing  possible  in 
the  South  and  in  Great  Britain  are  not  described 
in  this  chapter.  They  are  essentially  similar  to 
those  referred  to  in  the  earlier  pages  ;  for  the  sea- 
sons, of  course,  vary  according  to  the  latitude. 
What  is  true  of  the  East  and  North,  however,  is, 
in  the  main,  true  'of  the  West  and  South ;  and 
the  same  methods  apply  pretty  generally  all  over 
the  country,  taking  into  account  the  differences 
of  temperature.  A  lengthened  experience  has 
shown  me  that  a  good  fisherman  in  England  is  a 
good  fisherman  on  the  American  continent,  and  a 
good  angler  in  the  East  is  a  good  one  in  the  West. 
I  shall,  therefore,  not  enlarge  further  on  winter 
fishing  as  it  is  in  latitudes  other  than  the  one  in 
which  I  am  writinof. 

There  is,  however,  yet  one  other  kind  of  winter 
fishing  that  may   be  spoken  of  here.     I  refer  to 


PISHING    THROUGH  THE  ICE  1 69 

that  pleasant  outing  we  all  may  have  in  imagi- 
nation, sitting  before  the  blazing  winter  fire  or 
heated  stove  whilst  the  winter  gale  blows  snow- 
laden  in  the  outer  darkness.  Or  when  busily  re- 
pairing our  rods,  making  new  leaders,  snelling 
more  hooks,  or  neatly  constructing  that  feather- 
poem,  the  dainty  artificial  fly !  And  how  pleas- 
ant to  recall  the  help  one  has  been  to  the  others 
because  of  the  knowledge  acquired  in  the  ways 
taught  by  this  book  ! 

And  one  other  instructive  amusement  can  be 
followed,  even  in  winter,  beside  fishing  through  the 
ice  and  recalling  past  experience  —  I  refer  to 
amateur  fish-culture.  The  time  will  surely  come 
when  every  farmer  will  be  as  fully  prepared  to 
breed  fish  as  cattle.  In  the  chapter  on  the  sub- 
ject included  in  this  little  book  I  have  written 
with  the  idea  bf  introducing  trout-culture  to  my 
young  readers  as  intensely  interesting  and  in- 
forming, and  possibly  useful  to  them  in  after 
life.  It  certainly  will  fill  up  the  dead  season  of 
fishing,  if  practised  as  I  have  laid  down. 


I/O  WINTER  ANGLING 


CHAPTER    X 

TROUT-BREEDING   IN   WINTER 

That  grand  old  angler  and  good  Christian, 
George  Dawson  of  Albany,  has  put  it  on  record 
that  "it  is  not  all  of  fishing  to  fish."  Similarly,  I 
may  say,  "  It  is  not  all  of  fish  to  fish."  I  mean, 
of  course,  that  there  are  many  interesting  points 
about  the  fish  themselves  that  become  apparent, 
aside  from  the  actual  operation  of  fishing.  It  is  a 
poor  angler  that  passes  his  days  by  the  waterside 
intent  only  on  filling  his  basket,  and  on  simply  the 
capture  of  the  fish.  To  him  the  best  pleasures  of 
the  pastime  are  sealed  and  unknown.  He  should 
not  be  counted  with  the  true  disciples  of  the 
sainted  Izaak  Walton ;  nor  is  he  to  be  considered 
a  true  member  of  the  "gentle  craft."  To  such  an 
one  fishing  is  fishing  and  nothing  more.  He  is 
like  Peter  Bell :  "  A  primrose  by  the  river's  brim, 
a  yellow  primrose  was  to  him,  and  it  was  nothing 
more."  But  how  different  with  the  observant  fish 
lover !     Every  denizen  of  the  water  is  to  him  an 


TROUT-BREEDING  IiV   WINTER  I /I 

object  of  observation  and  delight.  He  not  only 
delights  in  their  capture  as  a  tribute  to  his  own 
prowess,  but  he  is  an  admiring  possessor  of  the 
beautiful  piece  of  watergoing  architecture,  than 
which  there  is  no  more  perfect  example  than  the 
trout  or  salmon.  Taking  one  step  farther,  what 
could  be  more  interesting  to  my  young  readers 
than  the  care  of  either  of  these  beautiful  fish  from 
the  ^^g  up  to  vigorous  trouthood  or  salmonhood } 
The  task  proposed  may  look  a  'difficult  one,  but  it 
really  is  not,  as  I  shall  demonstrate.  As  a  boy  I 
have  done  precisely  as  I  shall  describe,  and  subse- 
quent experience  has  confirmed  some  conclusions 
which  were  at  first  tentative. 

To  go  back  to  my  own  earliest  knowledge  of 
the  subject.  One  of  my  most  pleasant  recollec- 
tions is  that  of  the  late  Mr.  Frank  Buckland 
(author  of  "  Curiosities  of  Natural  History,"  etc.) 
amongst  his  beloved  infant  trout  at  the  Mu- 
seum of  Fish  Culture,  South  Kensington,  Lon- 
don, Eng.  With  fatherly  assiduity  would  he  at- 
tend on  them ;  and  as  he  brought  to  bear  on  the 
tiny  entities  the  resources  of  his  great  and  ingen- 
ious mind,  one  almost  wished  himself  a  fish,  were 
it  only  to  be  brought  within  the  tender  care  of  such 


172  WINTER  ANGLING 

a  fond  foster-parent.  Mr.  Buckland's  success  in 
the  breeding  and  rearing  of  fish  was,  as  a  conse- 
quence, very  pronounced  ;  and  his  charming  lec- 
ture before  the  London  Royal  Institution,  on  the 
subject  of  fish  culture  (which  was  afterwards  pub- 
lished in  book  form),  proves  to  any  one  that,  so  far 
from  the  subject  being  a  dull  one,  it  is  replete  with 
remarkable  interest,  and  far  from  difficult  of  prac- 
tice. 

Of  course,  however,  it  is  impossible  for  boys  in 
general  to  undertake  the  artificial  spawning,  im- 
pregnation, rearing,  feeding,  etc.,  on  the  scale  car- 
ried out  in  the  various  State  hatcheries  ;  but,  as  I 
shall  explain  in  the  following  pages,  it  is  quite 
within  the  means  of  my  readers  to  artificially  hatch 
and  rear  a  few  dozen  of  trout  or  young  salmon  ; 
and  what  can  be  a  prettier  or  more  interesting 
amusement  for  the  student  of  fish-life,  apart  from 
the  knowledge  it  imparts  of  the  natural  history  of 
the  most  important  family  of  fishes  in  the  world  ? 
Boys  breed  and  rear  canaries  and  other  birds,  rab- 
bits, guinea-pigs,  mice,  and  dogs ;  why,  therefore, 
should  fish  be  neglected,  when  they  are  really 
easier  to  breed  and  keep  than  any  of  those  just 
named }     And  are  they  not    far    more  beautiful } 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 73 

What  can  form  a  more  lovely  pet  than  a  tame  car- 
mine-spotted trout  taking  its  food  from  your  fin- 
gers ?  I  intend,  therefore,  giving  plain  directions, 
by  means  of  which  any  one  possessed  of  ingenuity 
and  a  little  careful  patience  may  satisfactorily  be- 
come a  trout  and  salmon  breeder  on  a  small  scale 
at  a  very  little  cost ;  and,  as  the  chief  part  of  the 
operations  will  be  carried  out  during  the  winter, 
when  outdoor  sports  are  few,  I  feel  sure  my  in- 
structions will  not  fall  to  the  ground. 

First,  I  must  recapitulate  briefly  the  natural  his- 
tory of  the  salmon  family.  Now,  all  this  family, 
which  consists  of  several  species  of  trout  and  the 
lordly  salmon  himself  as  the  head,  have  habits  as 
regards  food,  places  of  habitation,  spawning,  feed- 
ing, etc.,  very  similar  to  each  other.  As  winter 
approaches,  unlike  many  other  fish  of  our  rivers, 
which  spawn  in  summer,  the  trout  or  salmon  as- 
cends the  river  and  proceeds  to  make  a  nest  in  the 
gravel.  "  Fancy,"  I  think  I  hear  some  one  say, 
"a  fish  making  a  nest.  I  thought  it  was  only 
birds  did  that."  Quite  incorrect,  my  young  friend  ; 
the  trout  and  salmon  make  a  distinct  nest  in  the 
gravel,  not  of  fibres  it  is  true  (the  stickle-back 
does  that,  however),  but  by  turning  up  the  stones 


1/4  WINTER  ANGLING 

by  means  of  a  sort  of  undulating  movement  from 
head  to  tail.  Both  male  and  female  assist  in  this  ; 
and  when  a  suitable  cavity  is  formed,  the  female 
deposits  the  eggs,  which  are  about  the  size  of  a 
small  pea,  and  of  a  beautiful  salmon-flesh  color. 
The  male  then  impregnates  them,  and  they  both 
set  to  and  cover  them  up.  After  about  a  hundred 
days  the  eggs  burst,  letting  out  the  tiny  fish,  which 
for  a  considerable  time  lie  helpless,  feeding  only 
by  absorption  from  an  oil-bag,  or  vesicle,  which  in 
time  becomes  the  stomach  of  the  perfectly  formed 
fish.  After  this  it  feeds,  and  takes  its  chance  in 
the  struggle  for  existence. 

Such  is  a  short  history  of  the  natural  process  of 
breeding.  The  artificial  method,  of  which  the  la- 
mented Seth  Green  and  his  yet  living  brother  and 
others  were  and  are  apostles,  consists  in  taking 
a  fish  full  of  spawn  and  catching  the  eggs  from  it 
in  a  suitable  vessel.  These  are  then  impregnated 
and  passed  on  in  an  artificial  stream  of  water  until 
they  hatch,  after  which,  as  soon  as  they  can  feed, 
they  are  fed,  and  so  grown  on.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
artificial  method  I  am  going  to  explain. 

The  artificial  spawning  of  fish  is  manifestly  im- 
practicable for  most  of  my  readers ;  but  as  there 


TROUT-BKEEDING  IN   WINTER  1/5 

are  many  gentlemen  who  sell  ova,  or  eggs,  they 
may  be  procured  without  difificulty,^  and  I  will 
therefore  commence  from  the  period  when  the 
eggs  are  actually  in  progress  towards  hatching. 

The  apparatus  first  commands  our  closest  atten- 
tion. A  constant  stream  of  water  is  indispensable 
at  the  outset,  and  the  next  requisite  is  a  suitable 
box  or  boxes  for  the  reception  of  the  ova  and  the 
fry  when  they  appear.  Neither  of  these  is  diffi- 
cult to  obtain. 

As  to  the  water.  If  it  be  possible  to  join  on  a 
pipe  to  the  water-works'  supply,  and  regulate  the 
stream  of  water  by  means  of  a  tap,  then  half  the 
battle  is  won  ;  but  as  it  is  not  likely  that  boys  will 
care  to  purposely  go  to  this  expense,  some  other 
device  must  be  thought  of.  A  cistern,  or  even 
tub,  if  clean  and  sweet,  will  do  to  store  the  water 
in,  if  the  latter  is  pumped  from  a  well ;  and  it 
should  be  indoors,  out  of  the  reach  of  frost,  and 
raised  above  your  boxes  or  troughs.  It  need 
not  necessarily  be  very  near,  for  a  small  India- 
rubber  pipe  will  convey  all  the  water. 

I  have  said  that  it  should  be  indoors ;  thafev  is,  in 

1  J.  Annin,  Jr.,  Caledonia,  Livingstone  Co.,  N.Y.,  supplies 
eggs  and  fry  in  the  proper  season. 


1/6  WINTER  ANGLING 

an  out-house  or  cellar,  of  course,  because  if  it  were 
out  the  frost  might  stop  the  supply  of  water  dur- 
ing the  night,  and  kill  all  your  fish  in  a  few  hours. 
I  will  suppose  you  have  a  tool-shed,  or  part  of 
a  barn,  therefore,  at  your  disposal.  Of  course  a 
good  and  reliable  stove  must  be  fixed  ;  that  is  a 
prime  essential.  This  is  how  I  would  go  to  work 
in  the  very  cheapest  way.  Fix  in  one  corner,  at 
about  five  feet  from  the  floor,  two  stout  iron 
brackets.  Procure  a  cask ;  a  molasses  cask  will 
do.  Have  the  head  knocked  in,  and  the  inside 
thoroughly  cleansed  with  boiling  water,  and  after 
that  deeply  charred ;  the  charcoal  thus  formed 
clears  the  water  of  impurity.  The  charring  is 
done  with  hot  embers  from  the  stove.  Set  the 
barrel  upon  your  brackets  securely,  and  be  sure 
they  are  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  the 
water.  You  have  thus  your  water  receptacle, 
which  will,  of  course,  require  refilling  as  it  empties 
(Fig.  79).  Now,  before  going  farther,  just  let  me 
make  two  or  three  remarks  on  this  important  sub- 
ject of  water  supply.  Of  course,  when  advising 
the  ptirchase  and  fixing  of  a  barrel,  I  am  suppos- 
ing that  no  house-tank  is  accessible,  and  that  my 
reader   depends    upon    an    artificial    supply.       Of 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER 


177 


course,  also,  a  zinc  or  lead,  or  even  wood,  tank 
would  do  better,  though  not  much.  Besides,  the 
barrel  is  always  useful  long  after  my  experimen- 
talist has  given  up  fish-breeding.  Just,  however, 
as  it  is  certain  a  kennel  is  necessary  for  a  dog,  or 
a  hutch  for  rabbits,  so  is  the  barrel  or  reservoir 


Fig.  79.  — Water  Cask. 

necessary   for    the    fish,    and,    as    I    have    recom- 
mended, does  not  come  very  high. 

We  will  now  suppose  the  cask  is  fixed ;  the  next 
thing  is  a  covering  or  lid  to  keep  out  the  dust. 
Anything  that  suggests  itself  as  suitable  will  do 


41 

178 


WINTER  ANGLING 


for  this,  so  nothing  further  need  be  said  about 
it.  The  arrangement  for  an  outlet  must  now  be 
made.  An  ordinary  wooden  faucet  will  do  capi- 
tally ;  but  you  must  boil  it  in  water  for  some  time 
before  using  it,  in  order  to  extract  any  sap,  etc., 
in  the  wood  likely  to  taint  the  water.  When  dry, 
drive  it  into  a  hole  previously  bored  at  a  distance 


Fig.  80.— Filter. 

of  about  six  inches  from  the  bottom.  An  India 
rubber  pipe  will  connect  this  with  your  next 
necessary  article,  namely,  a  filter ;  for  trout  must 
have  the  purest  water  when  they  are  very  young. 

Now,  the  filter  (Fig.  8o)  is  very  easily  made  in 
this  wise.     Procure  a  large  flower-pot,  the  largest 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 79 

you  can  get.  Make  a  wire  tripod  stand  for  it  of 
about  a  foot  in  height.  Into  the  hole  at  the 
bottom  of  the  pot  insert  a  cork,  through  which  a 
glass  pipe  (easily  procurable  at  your  drug-store)  of 
about  three  inches  long  has  been  inserted.  You 
can  bore  the  cork  through  with  a  red-hot  iron, 
and  be  careful  that  it  is  a  good  sound  one ;  also 
be  very  sure  that  it  fits  the  aperture  exactly,  so 
that  no  water  can  escape  except  through  the  pipe. 
The  latter  should  be  at  least  three-eighths  of 
an  inch  in  diameter,  inside  measurement,  or  the 
supply  of  water  will  be  inadequate  to  the  de- 
mands of  health  in  the  fish.  When  the  cork  is 
inserted,  the  glass  pipe  should  be  flush  or  even 
with  that  part  of  it  inside  the  flower-pot,  and  the 
rest  outside.  On  the  outside  length  your  India- 
rubber  piping  will  be  attached. 

The  making  of  the  filter,  from  which  we  have 
slightly  digressed,  is  as  follows  :  Having  arranged 
the  cork  and  glass  as  I  have  directed,  immediately 
above  the  latter,  inside  the  pot,  a  piece  of  well- 
washed,  fine  sponge,  not  larger  than  a  slice  from 
an  orange  of  say  half-inch  thickness,  should  be 
placed.  Immediately  on  this  a  half-inch  layer  of 
well-washed  stones  of  not  more  than  three-eighths 


l8o  WINTER  ANGLING 

of  an  inch  in  diameter  are  placed  ;  they  may  grad- 
uate, of  course,  to  lesser  sizes.  Thereafter  follows 
a  layer  of  at  least  an  inch  and  'a  half  of  smaller 
stones,  the  limit  of  size  being  a  pea,  and  the  min- 
imum being  a  mustard  seed.  Next  a  layer  of 
wood  charcoal,  broken  up  into  small  pieces  ;  next 
a  layer  of  sand,  well  washed  before  using,  and 
finally  a  piece  of  coarse  muslin.  Another  piece 
of  sponge  may  be  placed  at  the  top  to  break  the 
fall  of  the  water  from  the  cistern.  Here,  there- 
fore, is  a  splendidly  efficient  filter,  which  will, 
however,  I  must  say,  require  cleaning  out  occa- 
sionally, more  or  less  frequently,  in  fact,  according 
to  the  purity  or  impurity  of  the  water.  In  view 
of  this,  perhaps  it  is  well  to  make  two  or  three 
others  at  the  same  time,  so  that  the  fish  may 
never  have  impure  water. 

The  stream  of  water  is  now  assured,  and  its 
purity  certain.  The  next  concern,  of  course,  is 
the  troughs  or  tanks  in  which  the  eggs  are  to  be 
kept  and  matured  into  life.  These  are  constructed 
of  various  materials,  and  so  used  by  the  professed 
fish  culturist,  slate,  glass,  earthenware,  and  wood 
being  chiefly  in  requisition.  For  the  present 
purpose   wood   is    quite   good    enough.     Let    me 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  l8l 

first,  however,  describe  what  the  trough  is  when 
adapted  for  its  use.  It  consists  of  a  receptacle, 
say,  six  inches  deep,  of  a  rectangular  shape,  in 
which  the  ova  are  stored,  fitted  to  receive  water, 
and  also  furnished  with  a  spout  from  which  the 
overflow  emerges.  This  is  how  it  is  made,  and  I 
do  not  think  I  can  be  too  terse  and  practical. 
Take  (for  our  present  purpose)  three  lengths  of 
well-seasoned  pine  plank  half  an  inch  thick  by 
three  feet  long  by  ten  inches  for  one,  and  the 
others  nine  inches  broad.  The  ten-inch  wood 
plank  will  form  the  bottom,  and  the  other  two 
the  sides.  Two  other  ten-inch-by-nine  pieces  of 
the  same  kind  of  wood  are  necessary  to  form  the 
ends.  These  parts  should  be  put  together  with 
copper  nails  such  as  boat-builders  use,  and  no 
corrosion  in  consequence  ensues,  as  would  be  the 
case  were  iron  nails  employed.  Iron  nails  will  do, 
however,  if  the  copper  are  not  available. 

After  the  box  has  been  made  so  securely  that 
no  water  can  escape,  the  next  operation  is  that  of 
charring  the  interior.  It  is  a  well-known  fact 
amongst  pisciculturists  that  the  charred  wood  box 
or  trough  presents  more  lively  fish  than  any  other 
kind  of  apparatus.     Well,  the  charring  process  is 


1 82  *  WINTER  ANGLING 

easy  enough.  Take  out  the  red-hot  embers  of  a 
good  coal  fire  and  place  them  in  a  box,  moving 
them  as  it  is  found  the  wood  ignites.  Some  care 
and  perseverance  are  necessary  to  char  the  in- 
terior properly ;  but  it  can,  of  course,  be  done 
without  more  difficulty  than  a  certain  amount 
of  patience  and  dexterity  in  themselves  indicate. 
The  idea  is  to  make  the  inside  of  the  trough  a 
perfect  lining  of  charcoal,  so  that  no  fungus  or 
other  impurity  can  exist.  Curious,  isn't  it,  that 
carbon,  or  charcoal,  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
antiseptics  of  nature,  and  that  vegetable  growths 
and  all  impurities  will  not  attach  themselves  to  it } 
or,  if  the  latter  do,  they  lose  all  their  vicious  char- 
acter and  become  innocuous.  Mr.  Monroe  Green 
of  the  Caledonia  Hatchery,  N.Y.,  uses  a  coating  of 
coal-tar  only,  and  finds  it  all  that  is  required. 

Thus  your  trough  is  finished,  excepting  the 
all-necessary  outlet.  In  order  to  make  this,  bore 
a  hole  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
with  a  cement  of  white  lead  introduce  a  short 
length  of  lead  pipe.  Now,  the  white  lead  must  be 
used  sparingly,  and  as  little  as  possible  should  be 
allowed  to  appear  on  the  water  side  of  the  trough. 
It  must  also  be  allowed  to  become  hard  before  the 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN  WINTER 


183 


receptacle  is  put  in  use ;  and  if  sufficient  care  be 
exercised  in  this,  there  is  but  little  fear  of  the 
lead  proving  deleterious  to  the  fish.  A  slanting 
section  of  the  pipe  may  be  cut  off  by  means  of  a 
good  sharp  knife  or  saw  ;  and  trough,  spout,  and 
all  is  then  furnished  with  sufficient  complete- 
ness to  rear  the  most  delicate  of  all  fishes 
(Fig.  81). 


Fig.  81 .  —  Trough. 

In  large  fish-breeding  establishments  a  series  of 
troughs,  either  of  slate,  glass,  earthenware,  or,  as 
I  have  just  described,  of  wood,  is  usually  erected, 
and  the  water  passes,  by  means  of  the  spouts,  from 
end  to  end  of  each.     This  series  may,  and  often 


184  WINTER   ANGLING 

does,  number  ten  or  a  dozen  troughs,  and,  of 
course,  admits  of  a  great  number  of  fry  being 
hatched.  I  am,  however,  writing  for  boys  here, 
and  I  do  not  advise  a  larger  receptacle  than  that 
described,  for  an  initial  experiment.  Such  a 
trough  will  accommodate  some  thousands  of  ova  at 
a  pinch,  though  I  advise  the  learner  not  to,  in  any 
case,  overcrowd.  The  fewer  the  eggs  under  care, 
the  easier  is  each  individual  looked  after,  and  the 
easier  is  it  to  remove  dead  matter,  debris,  and  the 
ordinary  flotsam  and  jetsam  inevitable  on  an  as- 
semblage of  living  beings. 

The  trough  I  have  described  should  be  placed 
on  either  trestle,  or  on  stakes  driven  into  the 
ground,  to  a  height  which,  whilst  it  admits  of  a 
fairly  good  fall  from  the  cistern  to  the  filter,  is  not 
too  low  so  as  to  be  inconvenient.  In  my  fish- 
breeding  experiment  nothing  has  seemed  to  con- 
duce to  the  lack  of  patient,  absorbed  observation 
of  the  eggs  and  embryos  like  the  backache  engen- 
dered by  reason  of  the  inconveniently  low  troughs  ; 
therefore,  be  particular  when  making  your  trestles 
not  to  make  the  legs  too  short.  The  trough  can 
be  nailed  (copper  nails  preferable)  to  the  stakes  or 
trestle  for  security's  sake ;  in  fact,  it  is  advisable 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 85 

this  should  be  done.  I  once  had  a  terrible  disas- 
ter when  I  first  began,  as  a  boy,  to  artificially  hatch 
fish.  My  coat  happened  to  catch  in  a  corner  of 
the  trough,  and  the  whole  bag  of  tricks  came 
splash  over  me,  costing  me  the  death  of  at  least 
a  hundred  young  fish.  As  these  were  worth  about 
two  cents  each,  I  can  leave  my  reader  to  imagine 
the  lesson  it  taught. 

The  tank  which  is  to  receive  the  young  fish 
when  their  period  of  absorption-feeding  is  past, 
and  when  they  begin  to  eat  with  their  mouths, 
when,  in  fact,  they  are  to  be  fed  and  brought  up 
till  of  sufficient  age  to  be  transported  to  the  aqua- 
rium, pond,  or  stream,  must  be  of  larger  dimensions 
than  the  hatching-trough.  I  recommend,  there- 
fore, that  it  be  made  of  deal,  as  before,  which  can 
be  charred  or  not,  and  of  these  dimensions  :  one 
foot  deep,  four  feet  broad  by  six  feet  long.  Six 
clear  inches  of  water  is  quite  sufficient  for  these 
young  gentlemen  ;  and  an  outlet,  as  recommended 
for  the  hatching-trough,  which  communicates  with 
a  drain,  is  necessary.  Before  and  over  both  the 
openings  in  the  trough,  and  that  in  this  "stew,"  or 
tank,  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  a  zinc- 
wire  covering  must  be  fixed  at  some  distance  from 


1 86  WINTER  ANGLING 

both.  The  object  of  both  these  contrivances  is  to 
keep  the  tiny  embryos  and  fry  from  passing  away 
from  their  allotted  dwelling-places,  which,  with  a 
perverseness  of  all  young  organisms,  they  would 
inevitably  do  were  they  left  to  their  own  devices. 

Coverings  of  wood  must  also  be  provided  for 
both  these  receptacles ;  for  it  is  found  that  eggs 
hatch  better  in  darkness,  and  the  young  alevins 
are  intolerant  of  light.  With  the  fry  the  precau- 
tion is  not  so  necessary,  except  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  away  all  nocturnal  enemies.  An  old  cat 
once  played  me  a  pretty  trick,  catching  and  eating 
a  lot  of  my  two-inch  fry  ;  and  a  rat  once  did  worse 
than  that,  —  he  simply  gnawed  a  hole  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  tank,  and  when  it  was  empty  hopped  in 
and  devoured  the  lot  of  fish,  remaining  high  and  dry. 

I  have  now  described  the  chief  apparatus,  which, 
to  recapitulate,  consists  of  a  reservoir,  a  filter,  a 
hatching-trough,  and  a  "stew,"  or  tank,  for  the  fish 
when  they  have  arrived  at  the  feeding-age.  Place 
them  in  order,  and  turn  on  your  water  for  a  day  or 
two  to  sweeten  the  whole  affair.  This  done,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  see  about  stocking  the  hatch- 
ing-trough. First,  however,  procure  some  nice 
sharp  gravel ;  the  stones  should  not  be  larger  than 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN  WINTER  1 8/ 

peas,  and  as  uniform  in  size  as  possible.  They 
should  be  boiled  (not  to  render  them  soft,  of 
course),  to  clear  off  and  kill  any  impurity.  Having 
thereafter  washed  them  carefully  in  several  w^aters, 
spread  a  layer  of  about  an  inch  in  thickness  over 
the  bottom  of  your  two  receptacles.  It  is  not 
really  necessary  to  do  this  in  the  "stew"  until  you 
are  ready  to  receive  the  fry  in  it.  However,  as  it 
is  scarcely  necessary  to  take  two  bites  off  one 
cherry,  it  may  be  better,  perhaps,  to  do  both  at 
the  same  time.  Having  done  this,  obtain  some 
larger  stones,  ranging  from  the  size  of  a  filbert  to 
that  of  a  plum,  and  place  these  sparely,  so  that, 
as  the  water  passes  over  them,  tiny  eddies  may 
be  formed.  These  are  of  very  salutary  value  to 
young  trout  or  salmon,  and  serve  the  purpose  of 
shelter  and  quietude. 

I  have  said  that  the  art  of  spawning  and  im- 
pregnating is  impracticable  for  most  boys.  This 
being  so,  and  as  there  are  gentlemen  who  make 
a  business  of  supplying  eyed  ova,  I  can  only  re- 
peat my  advice  as  to  the  purchase  of  the  eggs  from 
a  reliable  fish  culturist.  As  a  rule,  the  eggs  are 
retained  by  the  vendor  until  the  two  eyes  of  the 
little    fish,    which    are    large    and    unmistakable. 


1 88  WINTER   ANGLING ^ 

can  be  seen  through  the  shell  of  the  ^gg.  If  the 
ova  are  removed  before  this  the  chances  of  their 
dying  are  very  great  ;  and  when  ''  eyed,"  however, 
the  chances  are  just  oppositely  small,  insomuch  as 
that  as  many  as  ninety-five  per  cent  may  be  safely 
received  off  a  journey  of  one  hundred  miles  if  they 
have  been  packed  with  judgment  and  care. 

Let  us  suppose  the  tyro  has  purchased,  say,  one 
thousand  eyed  eggs,  and  has  his  apparatus  in  order, 
with  a  gentle  stream  dribbling  into  his  hatching- 
trough.  The  eggs  will,  doubtless,  come  to  him  in 
damp  moss,  and  no  time  should  be  lost  in  introdu- 
cinof  them  to  their  future  home.  This  is  done  in 
no  extraordinary  manner ;  the  ova  being  only 
turned  in  and  distributed  over  the  gravel  by  means 
of  a  feather.  Be  careful  in  doing  this  to  spread 
the  tiny  opaline  beads  so  that  they  do  not  bunch, 
but  are  well  apart.  Having  done  this,  replace 
the  cover  of  your  trough,  and  let  them  have 
twelve  hours  clear  rest  before  you  again  look  at 
them. 

On  again  closely  scanning  them  you  may  per- 
chance notice  one  or  two  of  a  different  color  to 
the  rest ;  that  is,  they  are  whitish,  as  if  addled. 
These  are  dead,  and  must  be  removed.     To  do 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER 


189 


this  a  new    piece    of    apparatus    is    brought    into 
requisition.     This  simply  consists  of  a  glass  tube 


Fig.  82.  —  Tube  for  Siphon. 

of  about  half  an  inch  inside  diameter,  bent  to  an 
obtuse  angle  (Fig.  82).     The  thumb  is  placed  on 


IQO  WINTER  ANGLING 

the  top  of  the  longer  leg,  and  the  tube  is  then 
forced  down  into  the  water  near  the  (^gg  desired  to 
be  brought  up.  Of  course  but  little  water  can  enter 
the  tube  whilst  the  air  is  retained  by  the  ball  of 
the  thumb ;  but  as  soon  as  the  latter  is  removed 
the  air  rushes  out,  and  the  water  passing  in  with 
great  swiftness  carries  with  it  the  ^gg  or  eggs  you 
wish  to  examine.  If  now  the  tube  be  held  with  its 
contents  between  the  eye  and  the  light,  the  Qgg 
which  is  dead  will  be  seen  to  contain  an  immov- 
able, mouldy-looking  creature ;  whereas,  should 
there  be  a  live  ^gg  in  its  company,  the  embryo 
will  be  seen  to  incessantly  wriggle  and  move  about 
within  its  shelly  covering. 

It  will  be  well  to"  watch  incessantly  for  the  insect 
enemies  which,  in  spite  of  all  care,  will  sometimes 
creep  into  the  trough.  The  larvae  of  all  water-flies 
and  beetles  are  inimical  to  the  well-being  of  both 
the  Qgg  and  alevin.  If  reasonable  precautions  be 
taken,  such  as  I  have  suggested,  however,  the  tyro 
need  not  fear  such  visitants. 

Our  experimentalist  will  have  had  no  opportu- 
nity of  watching  the  gradual  development  of  the 
ova  from  the  moment  of  their  impregnation  to  the 
time  they  become  "  eyed  ;  "   because,  of  course,  he 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  I9I 

will  not  have  received  them  till  this  period,  and  so 
he  has  missed  a  very  interesting  part  of  the  fish's 
history.  To  supply,  in  some  part,  this  omission,  I 
will  give  just  those  little  details  which  can  be  seen 
by  the  aid  of  a  good  lens,  which,  by  the  by,  should 
find  a  place  in  every  naturalist's  outfit. 

*'  For  some  time,"  says  Mr.  Francis  Francis  in 
his  "Fish  Culture"  (after  impregnation),  "little 
change  is  observable  in  the  ova ;  but  at  length 
little  globules  of  an  oily  looking  substance  are 
formed.  By  degrees  these  densify,  and  by  the  aid 
of  a  strong  glass  a  thin,  whitish  line  may  be  traced 
coiled  within  the  ^^^.  This  is  the  earliest  devel- 
opment of  the  spinal  column,  and,  of  course,  it 
becomes  more  distinct  as  the  animal  becomes 
more  formed.  And  about  the  fifth  or  sixth  week 
(in  water  of  moderate  temperature  we  may  say 
usually  from  the  thirty-fifth  to  the  forty-fifth  day) 
a  small  dark  speck,  probably,  on  examination,  two 
black  specks,  will  be  observable.  These  are  the 
eyes  of  embryos,  the  form  of  which  may  now  be 
traced  almost  by  the  naked  eye.  In  a  few  days 
the  eyes  become  distinct,  and  the  embryo  may 
now  be  discerned  without  the  aid  of  a  glass,  mov- 
ing and  turning  round  the  ^%%'' 


192  WINTER  ANGLING 

This  is  how  Mr.  Francis  speaks  of  the  period  in 
the  existence  of  the  ovum  between  its  birth  and 
the  time  it  comes  into  possession  of  our  tyro. 
The  by  far  most  interesting  part  of  its  nonage, 
however,  Hes  before  us.  By  means  of  our  glass 
siphon  and  lens  you  will  perceive  through  its 
transparent  walls  the  gradual  growth  and  definition 
of  the  tiny  fish.  You  will  perceive  the  pink  lines 
hereafter  to  become  arteries,  the  ruddy  spot  pres- 
ently to  form  the  heart,  and  which  even  now  does 
elementary  duty  in  circulating  the  vital  fluid.  All 
this  can  be  seen  without  injury  to  the  ^g^  or  its 
contents  ;  and  marvellous  and  altogether  beautiful 
is  the  gradual  development  of  this  germ  of  life, 
which  in  its  full  maturity  will,  perhaps,  arrive  at 
the  "  lusty  "  life  and  glorious  symmetry  of  a  four- 
pound  trout  or  a  twenty-pound  salmon.  By-the- 
by,  let  it  be  clearly  understood  that  the  ova  of 
salmon  are  equally  interesting  with  those  of  trout. 
For  my  part,  I  advise  a  half-and-half  mixture. 
The  salmon  could  be  reared  to  two  and  three 
pounds'  weight  in  fresh  water  if  land-locked,  —  that 
is,  kept  in  a  lake  and  fed  ;  otherwise  they  seek  the 
sea,  to  reascend  in  spawning-time.  While  young, 
however,  both  trout  and  salmon  are  very  lovely, 
and  can  be  rendered  quite  manageable. 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 93 

It  is  well  if  the  buyer  of  the  eggs  inquires  when 
they  are  expected  to  hatch.  After  the  eyes 
appear,  however,  three  weeks  or  a  month  sees 
this  important  change,  according  to  temperature. 
One  morning,  as  usual,  you  go  to  see  what  prog- 
ress your  ova  have  made,  when  you  perchance 
perceive  a  tiny  speck  of  bright  red  amongst  the 
eggs  of  pale  coralline  tint.  On  looking  closer, 
and  taking  this  up  with  a  siphon,  you  are  amazed 
to  see  that  the  fish  has  thrown  off  the  ^gg  and 
emerged  into  active,  vigorous,  energetic  life.  See 
how  he  kicks  in  the  glass  with  frantic  endeavors  to 
get  away  somewhere.  Now  it  is  quiet,  and  what 
a  wondrous  little  fellow  it  is  !  What  does  it  look 
like }  See,  there  is  a  thin  streak  of  almost  trans- 
parent substance  with  a  huge  belly,  larger,  appar- 
ently, than  the  ^'g'g  it  has  just  emerged  from. 
And  its  length  is  nearly  an  inch  over  all.  The 
stomachic  appendage  seems  composed  of  some 
gelatinous  liquid,  in  which  the  tiny  oil  globules 
before  referred  to  seem  to  float.  And  see  the 
bright  red  spot  near  the  head.  What  is  that } 
It  is  the  heart,  dear  reader,  that  as  we  look  at  it 
through  our  lens  is  visibly  pumping  the  life  fluid 
through   these   tiny   coral-like   veins,   that    ramify 


194  WINTER  ANGLING 

from  it.  And  this  fish  is  the  one  that  hereafter 
shall  make  the  blood  thrill  with  an  exquisite  pleas- 
ure as  it  bounds  and  flies  up  and  down  and  across 
the  stream,  securely  hooked  by  the  deft  hand  of 
a  piscator.  How  glorious  are  the  works  of  the 
Creator !  This  tiny  entity  is,  perchance,  a  young 
salmon,  for  whose  family  miles  and  miles  of  paper 
have  been  inscribed  with  laws,  on  whose  flesh 
hundreds  of  thousands  have  been  fed,  and  whose 
members  have  given  health-bringing  joy  on  the 
salmon  rivers  of  the  world. 

Turn  it  back  into  the  trough.  See  its  huge,  dis- 
proportionate eyes,  which  shall  be  in  future  years 
as  brilliant  and  keen  of  sight  as  those  of  the 
mountain  eagle,  dislike  the  light,  and  it  "wab- 
bles "  to  the  bottom  behind  some  sheltering  stone, 
there  to  mature  its  vitalized,  but  as  yet  unformed 
and  ungainly,  body. 

As  you  are  looking  at  this,  your  welcome  homely 
first-born,  you  perhaps  may  remark  the  frantic 
movements  which  seem  to  be  going  on  inside  an 
^^^  near,  and  should  turn  and  watch  the  antic- 
frolic.  Pick  it  up  with  the  siphon  and  hold  the 
glass  with  your  warm  hand  a  second,  and  see  ! 
The  shell  has  burst,  and  a  pair  of  wide-open  eyes 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 95 

are  protruding.  Replace  the  ^gg  in  the  water 
very  gently,  and  watch  the  operation  of  hatching. 
With  two  or  three  frantic  struggles  the  shell  splits 
open,  and  the  captive  is  free.  See  how  he  exults 
in  this  new  found  world  and  freedom !  Up  to  the 
surface  he  wriggles  ;  and  after  splashing  there- 
abouts some  little  time  his  strength  is  exhausted, 
and  he  falls  prone  on  his  side  beside  some  shelter- 
ing stone. 

Should  the  struggler  have  difficulty  in  separat- 
ing from  the  shell,  take  your  feather  and  gently 
aid  nature  in  her  work.  Not  infrequently  are 
there  cases  of  strangulation  owing  to  difficulty  in 
this  process.  The  hatching  will  now  go  on  with- 
out intermission  till  all  will  have  emerged.  After 
you  know  the  hatching  has  begun,  it  is  as  well 
to  keep  the  fish  in  darkness.  Of  course  you  can, 
if  you  wish,  take  a  few  of  the  eggs  likely  to 
break  through,  into  the  drawing-room  in  a  dish 
with  plenty  of  water,  that  such  friends  as  you 
may  have  present  may  see  the  wonderful  sight. 
This  change  will  do  the  fish  little  harm,  provid- 
ing they  are  returned  to  the  hatching-trough  in 
a  reasonable  time.  There  is  no  more  beautiful 
study  in  the  world  than  one  of  the  newly  hatched 


196  WINTER  ANGLING 

fry  placed  in  an  ordinary  microscopical  tank  and 
viewed  with  medium  powers. 

Hitherto  the  care  of  the  tyro  has  been  directed 
to  the  supply  and  temperature  of  the  water  ;  now, 
however,  these  cares  increase  in  gravity  and  num- 
ber. The  water  supply  must  on  no  account  fail, 
and  it  should  be  more  plentiful  than  before.  The 
zinc  guard  to  the  outlet  must  be  seen  to,  so  that 
none  of  the  little  fish  can  struggle  against  it  and 
get  stuck  there,  which  would  be  the  case  if  it  were 
placed  too  near  the  aperture.  My  plan  is  to  bend 
the  zinc  netting  into  a  square  form,  and  place  two 
pieces  of  wood,  like  rafters,  as  it  were,  between 
the  two  sides  of  the  trough  to  keep  it  close.  No 
accident  will  then  ensue,  because  the  draught  of 
water  is  not  sufficient  to  overcome  the  natural 
vigor  of  the  fish.  The  filters  must  be  changed 
and  cleansed  often.  The  same  materials  will  do 
again  and  again  ;  and  as  soon  as  it  is  judged  that 
all  the  eggs  have  hatched,  the  feather  must  be 
used  gently  to  agitate  the  water,  so  that  the  egg- 
shells may  be  taken  out  by  means  of  a  little  fine 
muslin  net,  which  can  be  easily  made.  Perfect 
cleanliness  is  your  most  important  consideration, 
or    there    is    a    strong    probability    of   a    fungoid 


TkOUT-BRkEDlNG  IN   WINTER  1 97 

disease  attacking  the  gills  of  the  little  fellows ;  and 
this  seems  to  be  entirely  without  remedy  when 
it-gets  a  distinct  hold. 

In  about  another  six  or  seven  weeks  you  will 
observe  your  fry  have  grown  larger,  and  have 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  lost  the  umbilical  bag  or  vesi- 
cle on  which  they  had  previously  fed  by  absorp- 
tion. They  must  now  be  removed  to  the  tank  or 
cistern,  and  in  a  short  time  you  will  perceive  they 
are  getting  remarkably  lively,  and  dart  hither  and 
thither  as  if  in  search  of  food.  You  can  now  dis- 
connect the  hatching  trough  from  the  reservoir, 
and  allow  the  water  to  fall  not  too  lavishly  from 
the  filter  into  the  larger  tank.  Your  fish  now 
require  feeding,  and  the  all-important  question  of 
food  now  presents  itself.  At  one  time  grated 
liver  —  that  is,  liver  that  had  been  boiled  and 
grated  —  I  almost  entirely  used  ;  but  it  was  found 
to  sometimes  remain  in  the  water,  rendering  it 
impure.  However,  it  will  do  very  well  if  used 
sparingly. 

In  feeding  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  no 
refuse  be  allowed  to  sink  to  the  bottom  uncon- 
sumed,  and  so  remain  to  putrefy.  I  should  rec- 
ommend   that,  whatever    food    be    given,  a   good 


198  IVINTER   ANGLING 

lookout  be  kept  to  avoid  this  nuisance.  Feed  the 
little  fellows  very  often,  not  with  an  excess  in 
quantity,  but  let  "little  and  often  "  be  your  motto. 
You  cannot  overfeed  them  ;  and  it  will  be  quite  as 
well  if  you  use  them  to  the  broad  daylight  instead 
of  covering  them  up,  except  at  night,  of  course. 
Small  worms  and.  maggots  are  a  good  food. 

Now,  when  they  arrive  at  the  time  at  which 
they  feed  greedily,  I  would  advise  the  introduction 
—  they  can  be  procured  from  aquarists  —  of  some 
of  the  fresh-water  shrimp  {PiUex  gaminai'us),  to  be 
found  in  some  gravelly  streams  under  the  stones. 
These  little  crustaceans  (albeit  they  are  not  shrimps 
at  all,  but  belong  to  the  flea  family)  are  capital  scav- 
engers of  the  water.  You  cannot  make  a  mistake 
as  to  which  they  are,  if  you  notice  their  very  active 
movements  and  shrimp-like  character  ;  and  they 
are  easily  caught  in  a  muslin  net,  which  you  can 
easily  make.  Turn  over  the  stones,  and,  as  they 
seek  to  get  away,  dexterously  put  your  net 
beneath,  and  so  secure  them. 

At  three  months  old  a  salmon  or  trout  fry  is 
over  an  inch  long,  and  a  very  bright,  voracious 
little  "cuss"  he  is!  By  this  time  you  had  better 
look  out  for  other  quarters  for  him.      If  you  have 


TROUT-BREEDING  IN   WINTER  1 99 

anything  like  good  fortune,  —  which  you  can  alone 
have,  by-the-by,  by  following  the  directions  I  have 
laid  down,  —  out  of  fifty  eggs  you  will  have  at  least 
twenty-five  young  fish,  lovely,  bright,  go-ahead 
little  fellows,  who  will  recognize  you  by  this  time 
if  you  have  fed  them  regularly.  An  aquarium,  or 
a  little  clear  adjacent  stream  preferably,  should 
now  be  their  destination  ;  but  mind,  I  do  not  say  it 
is  impossible  to  keep  them  much  longer  in  their 
tank  aforesaid.  However,  you  must  please  your- 
self. 

Coarser  food  may  be  given  to  your  fish  as  soon 
as  you  find  they  are  strong  enough  and  large 
enough.  By  the  time  they  are  six  or  seven 
months  old  this  diet  should  be  regular.  Small 
pieces  of  fresh  meat,  tadpoles,  flies,  the  tiny  fry  of 
coarse  fish,  are  all  food,  and  will  tend  to  the  tam- 
ing of  the  trout  if  you  feed  yourself.  The  brook 
trout  is  the  boldest  in  this  wise. 

I  have  inferred  that  salmon  can,  as  well  as 
trout,  be  hatched  and  cultured.  This  is  most 
certainly  true,  and  I  know  of  no  prettier  fish, 
till  it  gets  impatient  at  its  twelve  months'  birth- 
day with  the  restraints  put  upon  it.  Seaward  its 
instincts  impel  it ;  and  though  I  have  grown  them 


200  WINTER  ANGLING 

up  to  a  couple  of  pounds,  I  prefer  the  Salmo  fario 
or  brown  trout,  or  the  Salmo  fontinalis  referred 
to  above  (American  brook  trout),  both  on  account 
of  beauty  and  docility. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter  I  have,  I  think,  com- 
pletely demonstrated  the  possibility  of  the  breed- 
ing of  trout.  The  winter  days  are  often  vacant  of 
sports ;  and  if  any  one  derives  amusement  or  in- 
struction from  these  teachings,  I  am  amply  paid 
for  the  trouble  I  have  taken  to  make  the  process 
clear. 


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LEE  AND  SHEPARD'S  ILLUSTRATED  JUVENILES     27 
GEORGE  MAKEPEACE   TOWLE'S  BOOKS 

HEROES   OF   HISTORY.     6  volumes. 

The  Voyages  and  Adventures  of  Vasco  da  Gama.    By 

George  M.  Towle.     Illustrated.     $1.25. 

The  subject  of  this  work  was  in  his  own  day  more  famous  than  Columbus. 
His  discovery  of  the  way  to  India  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  one  of 
the  most  momentous  ever  made  by  man  ;  for  up  to  the  time  the  Suez  Canal  was 
opened  it  was  the  only  sea  route  between  Europe  and  India.  His  story  is  full 
of  striking  incidents,  of  strange  adventures,  of  desperate  dangers,  and  of 
moving  triumphs. 

Pizarro :   His  Adventures  and  Conquests.     By  George  M. 

Towle.     Illustrated.     $1.25. 

Pizarro  was  heroic  in  the  indomitable  energy  with  which  he  pursued  his  end, 
in  the  patience  with  which  he  bore  terrible  hardships,  in  the  courage  wiih 
which  he  assailed  a  great  empire  with  a  mere  handful  of  resolute  troops,  and  in 
the  vigor  and  genius  with  which  he  established  the  Spanish  rule  over  the 
conquered  nation. 

Magellan;   or,  The   First  Voyage  round  the  World.     By 
George  M.  Towle.     Illustrated.     $1.25. 

As  Vasco  da  Gama  found  the  water-way  to  Asia  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  so  Magellan,  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  after,  discovered  the  route  to 
the  same  continent  by  sailing  westward  and  passing  through  the  stormy  straits 
which  perpetuate  his  name  and  renown.  The  story  of  his  famous  expedition 
comprises  one  of  the  most  thrilling  portions  of  the  world's  history. 

Marco  Polo:  His  Travels  and  Adventures.  By  George  M. 
Towle.  Illustrated.  $1.25. 
In  this  volume  the  old  narrative  of  "  Marco  Polo  "  is  transformed  into  an 
interesting  story,  and  we  follow  the  young  Venetian  of  the  thirteenth  century 
as  he  journeys  among  the  fierce  tribes  of  Asia  and  Abyssinia.  We  see  him  at 
the  Tartar  court  of  Kublai  Khan,  where  he  rose  to  distinction.  We  see  him 
after  his  return  engaged  in  the  war  between  Venice  and  Genoa,  and  find  him 
a  prisoner  in  the  latter  city,  where  he  dictated  his  wonderful  narrative.  The 
scenes  and  incidents  in  which  he  was  the  leading  actor  are  dramatic  and 
thrilling. 

Ralegh:  His  Exploits  and  Voyages.     By  George  M.  Towle. 

Illustrated.     $1.25. 

A  well-known  and  brilliant  figure  at  the  court  of  Elizabeth,  an  undaunted 
explorer  and  soldier,  a  scholar  and  historian,  and  a  poet  with  the  verve  and 
-     directness  of  that  age,  —  the  career  of  such  a  man  could  not  fail  to  be  invested 
with  interest  by  the  accomplished  author  of  this  series. 

Drake,  the    Sea-King    of    Devon.     By   George  M.   Towle. 

Illustrated.     $1.25. 

Sir  Francis  Drake,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  leading  naval  captain  under 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  was  chief  among  the  destroyers  of  the  Spanish 
Armada.  Loose  notions  prevailed  in  that  age,  and  Drake's  exploits  in  plunder- 
ing foreign  vessels  differed  little  from  piracy.  He  was  safe,  however,  so  long 
as  he  shared  his  plunder  with  his  royal  mistress  and  her  friends.  He  was  the 
first  English  admiral  to  sail  a  ship  completely  around  the  globe. 

The  book  is  full  of  adventures  spiritedly  told. 


Heroes  and  Martyrs  of  Invention.    By  George  M.  Towle. 
Illustrated.     $1.00. 

Mr.  Towle's  book  will  be  fascinating  to  young  people  who  have  not  yet 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  heroes  of  the  age  of  industry,  nor  learned  that  the 
battles  of  life  are  fought  with  many  weapons  besides  the  cross-bow,  the  sword, 
and  the  cannon. 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


H  OLIVER  OPTICS  BOOKS 


All-Over-tlie- World     Series.      By   Oliver    Optic.      First 
Series.     Illustrated.     Price  per  volume,  $1.25. 
1.    A  MiHsing:  Million  ;  ok,  The  Adventukes  of  Louis  Belgrave. 
3.    A  iVlillionnaire  at  Sixteen  ;   or,  The  Cruise  of  the  Guardian 
Mother. 

3.  A  Young  Knight  Errant;  ok,  Cruising  in  the  West  Indies. 

4.  Strange  Sights  Abroad ;  or,  Adventures  in  European  Waters. 

All-Over- tlie-World  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Second 
Series.     Illustrated.     Price  per  volume,  $1.25. 

1.  Americ.in  Boys  Afloat;  or.  Cruising  in  the  Orient. 

2.  The  Young  Navia:«tors;  or,  the  Foreign  Cruise  of  the  "  Maud." 
Louis  is  a  fine  youn^  fellow  wilh  jrood  principles.     But  he  does  not  have 

entirely  smooth  sailinji:.  In  the  first  place,  there  was  a  rascally  stepfather 
whom  he  had  to  subjugate,  a  dear  mother  to  protect  and  care  for,  and  the  niiss- 
imr  million  to  rind  before  he  could  commence  his  delij^htful  travels.  All  was 
accomplished  at  last,  and  there  was  plenty  of  excitement  in  the  doing  of  them. 
The  cover  design  shows  many  things,  — a  globe,  the  Eiffel  Tower,  mountains, 
seas,  nvers,  castles,  and  other  things  which  Louis  saw  on  his  travels. 
(Other  volumes  in  preparation.) 

Young"  America  Abroad:  A  Library  of  Travel  and 
Adventure  in  Foreign  Lands.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Illus- 
trated by  Nast  and  others.  First  Series.  Six  volumes. 
Any  volume  sold  separately.     Price  per  volume,  $1.50. 

1.  Outward  Bound;  or.  Young  America  Afloat. 

2.  Slianirock  and  Thistle;    or,  Young  America  in  Ireland  and 

Scotland. 

3.  Red  Cross;  cr,  Young  America  in  England  and  Wales. 

4.  Dilces    and    Ditches;    or.    Young    America    in    Holland    and 

Belgium. 
6.  Palace    and    Cottage;    or,    Young    America    in    France    and 

Switzerland. 
6.  Down  the  Rhine;  or,  Young  America  in  Germany. 

"The  story  from  its  inception,  and  through  the  twelve  volumes  (see  Second 
Series),  is  a  bewitching  one,  while  the  information  imparted  concerning  the 
countries  of  Europe  and  the  isles  of  the  sea  is  not  only  correct  in  every  particu- 
lar, but  is  told  in  a  captivating  style.  Oliver  Optic  will  continue  to  be  the 
boys'  friend,  and  his  pleasant  books  will  continue  to  be  read  by  thousands  of 
American  boys.  What  a  fine  holiday  present  either  or  both  series  of '  Young 
America  Abroad  '  would  be  for  a  young  friend  !  It  would  make  a  little  library 
highly  prized  by  the  recipient,  and  would  not  be  an  expensive  one." — Provi- 
dence Press. 

Young"  America  Abroad.    By  Oliver  Optic.    Second  Series. 
Six    volumes.     Illustrated.     Any    volume    sold    separately. 
Price  per  volume,  $1.50. 
1.  Up  the  Baltic;    or,  Young  America  in  Norway,  Sweden,  and 

Denmark. 
3.  Northern  Lands;  or,  Young  America  in  Russia  and  Prussia. 

3.  Cross  and  Crescent;  or.  Young  America  in  Turkey  and  Greece. 

4.  Sunny  Shores;  or.  Young  America  in  Italy  and  Austria. 

5.  Vine  and  Olive;  or.  Young  America  in  Spain  and  Portugal. 

6.  Isles  of  the  Sea;  or,  Young  America  Homeward  Bound. 

"  Oliver  Optic  is  a  nom  de plume  that  is  known  and  loved  by  almost  every 
boy  of  intelligence  in  the  land.  We  have  seen  a  highly  intellectual  and  world- 
weary  man,  a  cynic  whose  heart  was  somewhat  embittered  by  its  large  experi-  . 
ence  of  human  nature,  take  up  one  of  Oliver  Optic's  books,  and  read  it  at  a 
sitting,  neglecting  his  work  in  yielding  to  the  fascination  of  the  pages.  When 
9.  mature  and  exceedingly  well-informed  mind,  long  despoiled  of  all  its  fresh- 
ness, can  thus  find  pleasure  in  a  book  for  boys,  no  additional  words  of  recom- 
mendation are  needed." — Sunday  Times, 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


OLIVER  OPTIC'S  BOOKS  5^ 


The  Blue  and  the  Gray  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Six 
volumes.  Illustrated.  Beautiful  binding  in  blue  and  gray, 
with  emblematic  dies.  Cloth.  Any  volume  sold  separately. 
Price  per  volume,  $1.50. 

1.  Taken  by  the  Enemy.  4.    Stand  by  the  Union. 

2.  Within  the  Enemy's  Lines.  5.   Fighting:  for  the  Kight. 

3.  On  the  Blockade.  6.   A  Victorious  Union. 
"There  never  has  been  a  more  interesting-  writer  in  the  field  of  juvenile 

literature  than  Mr.  W.  T.  Adams,  who,  under  his  well-known  pseudonym,  is 
known  and  admired  by  every  boy  and  girl  in  the  country,  and  by  thousands 
who  have  long-  since  passed  the  boundaries  of  youth,  yet  who  remember  with 
pleasure  the  genial,  interesting  pen  that  did  so  much  to  interest,  instruct,  and 
entertain  their  younger  years.  'The  iJlue  and  the  Gray '  is  a  title  that  is  suf- 
ficiently indicative  of  the  nature  and  spirit  of  the  latest  series,  while  the  name 
of  Oliver  Optic  is  sufficient  warrant  of  the  absorbing  style  of  narrative.  This 
series  is  as  bright  and  entertaining  as  any  work  that  Mr.  Adams  has  vet  put 
forth,  and  will  be  as  eagerly  perused  as  any  that  has  borne  his  name.  It  would 
not  be  fair  to  the  prospective  reader  to  deprive  him  of  the  zest  which  comes 
from  the  unexpected  by  entering  into  a  synopsis  of  the  story.  A  word,  how- 
ever, should  be  said  in  regard  to  the  beauty  and  appropriateness  of  the  binding, 
which  makes  it  a  most  attractive  volume."  —  Boston  Budget. 

WoodvlUe  stories.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Six  volumes.  Illus- 
trated.   Any  volume  sold  separately.    Price  per  volume,  $1.25. 

1.  Rich  and  Humble;  or,  Thk  Mission  of  Rkrtha  Grant. 

2.  In  School  and  Out;  or,  Thk  Conquest  of  Hichard  Grant. 

3.  Watch  and  Wait;  or,  The  Young  Fugitives. 

4.  Work  and  W^in;  or,  Noddy  Newman  on  a  Cruise. 

6.  Hope  and  Have;  or,  Fannv  Grant  among  the  Indians 
6.  Haste  and  Waste;  or,  The  Young  Pilot  of  I^ake  Champlain. 
"  Though  we  are  not  so  young  as  we  once  were,  we  relished  these  stories 
almost  as  much  as  the  boys  and  girls  for  whom  thev  were  written.  They  were 
really  refreshing,  even  to  us.  There  is  much  in  them  which  is  calculnted  to 
inspire  a  generous,  healthy  ambition,  and  to  make  distasteful  all  reading  tend- 
ing to  stimulate  base  desires."  —  Fitchburg  Reveille. 

The  Starry  Flag"  Series.     By  Oliver  Optic.     In  six  volumes. 
Illustrated.     Any  volume  sold  separately.     Price  per  volume, 
$1.25. 
1.  The  Starry  Flag;  or,  The  Young  Fisherman  of  Cape  Ann. 
/8.  Breaking  Away;  or,  The  Fortunes  of  a  Student. 

3.  Seek  and  Find;  or.  The  Adventures  of  a  Smart  Boy. 

4.  Freaks  of  Fortune;  or,  Half  round  the  World. 

5.  Make  or  Break;   or.  The  Rich  Man's  Daughter. 

6.  Down  the  Kiver;  or,  Buck  Bradford  and  the  Tyrants. 

"  Mr.  Adams,  the  celebrated  and  popular  writer,  familiarly  known  as  Oliveti 
Optic,  seems  to  have  inexhaustible  funds  for  weaving  together  the  virtues  of 
life;  and,  notwithstanding  he  has  written  scores  of  books,  the  same  freshness 
and  novelty  run  through  them  all.  Some  people  think  the  sensational  element 
predominates.  Perhaps  it  does.  But  a  book  for  young  people  needs  this,  and 
so  long  as  good  sentiments  are  inculcated  such  books  ought  to  be  read." 

Just  His  liUCk.     By  Oliver  Optic.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 

"  It  deals  with  real  flesh  and  blood  boys  ;  with  boys  who  possess  many  noble 
qualities  of  mind;  with  boys  of  generous  impulses  and  large  hearts;  with  boys 
who  delight  in  playing  pranks,  and  who  are  ever  ready  for  any  sort  of  mischief; 
and  with  boys  in  whom  human  nature  is  strongly  engrafted.  They  are  boys, 
as  many  of  us  have  been;  boys  in  the  true,  unvarnished  sense  of" the  word; 
boys  with  hopes,  ideas,  and  inspirations,  but  lackinuf  in  judgment,  self-control, 
and  discipline.  And  the  book  contains  an  appropriate  moral,  teaches  many  a 
lesson,  and  presents  many  a  precept  worthy  of  being  followed.  It  is  a  capital 
book  for  boys." 

LEE  AND  SHEPARO,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


36 


OLIVER  OPTIC'S   BOOKS 


The  Great  Western  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  In  six  vol- 
umes. Illustrated.  Any  volume  sold  separately.  Price  per 
volume,  $1.50. 

1.  Going  West;  or,  The  Perils  of  a  Poor  Boy. 

8.  Out  West;  or,  Roughing  it  on  the  Great  Lakes. 

3.  Lake  Breezes;  or,  The  Cruise  of  the  Sylvania. 

4.  Going  South;  or.  Yachting  on  the  Atlantic  Coast. 

5.  Down  Soutli;  or.  Yacht  Adventures  in  Florida. 

6.  Up  the  Kiver;  or.  Yachting  on  the  Mississippi. 

"This  is  the  latest  series  of  books  issued  by  this  popular  writer,  and  de:il< 
with  life  on  the  Great  Lakes,  for  which  a  careful  study  was  made  by  the  author 
in  a  summer  tour  of  the  immense  water  sources  of  America.  The  story,  which 
carries  the  same  hero  through  the  six  books  of  the  series,  is  always  entertain- 
ing-, novel  scenes  and  varied  incidents  giving  a  constantly  changing  yet  always 
attractive  aspect  to  the  narrative.    Oliver  Optic  has  written  nothing  better/' 

The  Yacht  Chib  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  In  six  volumes. 
Illustrated.  Any  volume  sold  separately.  Price  per  volume, 
$1.50. 

1.  Liittle  Bobtail;  or.  The  Wreck  of  the  Penobscot. 

2.  The  Yacht  Club;  or,  The  Young  Boat  Builders. 

3.  Money-Maker;  or.  The  Victory  of  the  Basilisk. 

4.  The  Coming  Wave;  or.  The  Treasure  of  High  Rock. 
6.  The  Dorcas  Club;  or.  Our  Girls  Afloat. 

6.   Ocean  Born;  or.  The  Cruise  of  the  Clubs. 

"  The  series  has  this  peculiarity,  that  all  of  its  constituent  volumes  are  inde- 
pendent of  one  another,  and  therefore  each  story  is  complete  in  itself.  Oliver 
Optic  is,  perhaps,  the  favorite  author  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  this  country,  and 
he  seems  destined  to  enjoy  an  endless  popularity.  He  deserves  his  success, 
for  he  makes  very  interesting  stories,  and  inculcates  none  but  the  best  senti- 
ments, and  the  'Yacht  Club'  is  no  exception  to  this  rule."  —  JVew  Haven 
jfournal  and  Courier. 

Onward  and  Upward  Series.    By  Oliver  Optic.    In  six 
volumes.     Illustrated.     Any  volume  sold  separately.     Price 
per  volume,  $1.25. 
1.  Field  and  Forest;  or,  The  Fortunes  of  a  Farmer. 
3.  Plane  and  Plank;  or,  The  Mishaps  of  a  Mechanic. 

3.  Desk  and  Debit;  or,  The  Catastrophes  of  a  Clerk. 

4.  Cringle  and  Crosstree;  or.  The  Sea  Swashes  of  a  Sailor. 

5.  Bivouac  and  Battle;  or.  The  Struggles  of  a  Soldier. 

6.  Sea  and  Shore;  or.  The  Tramps  of  a  Traveller. 

"  Paul  Farringford,  the  hero  of  these  tales,  is,  like  most  of  this  author's 
heroes,  a  young  man  of  high  spirit,  and  of  high  aims  and  correct  princi|)les, 
appearing  in  the  different  volumes  as  a  farmer,  a  captain,  a  bookkeeper,  a 
soldier,  a  sailor,  and  a  traveller.  In  all  of  them  the  hero  meets  with  very 
exciting  adventures,  told  in  the  graphic  style  for  which  the  author  is  famous." 

The  Lake  Shore  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  In  six  volumes. 
Illustrated.  Any  volume  sold  separately.  Price  per  volume, 
$1.25. 

1.  Through  by  Daylight;  or,  The  Young  Engineer  of  the  Lake 

Shore  Railroad.  \ 

2.  Liightning  Express;  or,  The  Rival  Academies. 

3.  On  Time;  or.  The  Young  Captain  of  the  Ucayga  Steamer.  • 

4.  Switch  Oflf;  or,  The  War  of  the  Students. 

5.  Brake  Up;  or,  The  Young  Peacemakers. 

6.  Bear  and  Forbear;  or.  The  Young  Skipper  of  Lake  Ucavga. 

"  Oliver  Optic  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  writers  for  youth,  and  withal 
one  of  the  best  to  be  found  in  this  or  any  past  age.  Troops  of  young  people 
hang  over  his  vivid  pages ;  and  not  one  of  them  ever  learned  to  be  mean,  ignoble, 
cmvardly,  selfish,  or  to  yield  to  any  vice  from  anything  they  ever  read  from  his 
pen."  —  Providence  Press. 

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OLIVER  OPTIC'S  BOOKS  37 


Army  and  Navy  Stories.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Six  volumes. 
Illustrated.  Any  volume  sold  separately.  Price  per  volume, 
$1.50. 

1.  The  Soldier  Boy;  or,  Tom  Somers  in  the  Army. 

2.  The  Sailor  Boy;  or,  Jack  Somers  in  the  Navy. 

3.  The  Young  Lieutenant;  or,  Adventures  of  an  Army  Officer. 

4.  The  Yankee  Middy;  ok.  Adventures  of  a  Navy  Officer. 
6.  Fighting  Joe;  or.  The  Fortunes  of  a  Staff  Officer. 

6.  Brave  Old  Salt;  ok.  Life  on  the  Quarter  Deck. 

"This  series  of  six  volumes  recounts  the  adventures  of  two  brothers,  Tom 
and  Jack  Somers,  one  in  the  army,  the  other  in  the  navy,  in  the  g^reat  Civil  War. 
The  romantic  narratives  of  the  fortunes  and  exploits  of  the  brothers  are  thrill- 
ing' in  the  extreme.  Historical  accuracy  in  the  recital  of  the  g^reat  events  of 
that  period  is  strictly  followed,  and  the  result  is,  not  only  a  library  of  entertain- 
ing volumes,  but  also  the  best  history  of  the  Civil  War  for  young  people  ever 
written." 

Soat  Builders  Series.  By  Oliver  Optic.  In  six  volumes. 
Illustrated.  Any  volume  sold  separately.  Price  per  volume, 
$1.25. 

1.  All  Adrift;  or,  The  Goldwing  Club. 

2.  Snug  Harbor;  or,  The  Champlain  Mechanics. 

3.  Square  and  Compasses;  or.  Building  the  House. 

4.  Stem  to  Stern;  or,  Building  the  Boat. 

5.  All  Taut;  or,  Rigging  the  Boat. 

6.  Ready  About;  or.  Sailing  the  Boat. 

•'  The  series  includes  in  six  successive  volumes  the  whole  art  of  boat  building, 
boat  rigging,  boat  manatjing,  and  practical  hints  to  make  the  ownership  of  a 
boat  pay.  A  great  deal  of  useful  information  is  given  in  this  Boat  Builders 
Series,  and  in  "^-ach  book  a  very  interesting  story  is  interwoven  with  the  infor- 
mation. Every  reader  will  be  interested  at  once  in  Dory,  the  hero  of  '  AH 
Adrift,'  and  one  of  the  characters  retained  in  the  subsequent  volumes  of  the 
series.  His  friends  will  not  want  to  lose  sight  of  him,  and  every  boy  who 
makes  his  acquaintance  in  'AH  Adrift'  will  become  his  friend." 

Riverdale  Story  Books.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Twelve  vol- 
umes. Illustrated.  Illuminated  covers.  Price:  cloth,  per 
set,  $3.60;  per  volume,  30  cents;  paper,  per  set,  $2.00. 

1.  Little  Merchant.  7.     Proud  and  Lazy. 

2.  Young  Voyagers.  8.    Careless  Kate. 

3.  Christmas  Gift.  9.     Robinson  Crusoe,  Jr. 

4.  Dolly  and  I.  10.     The  Picnic  Party. 

5.  Uncle  Ben.  11.     The  Gold  Thimble. 

6.  Birthday  Party.  12.    The  Do-Somethings. 

Riverdale  Story  Books.  By  Oliver  Optic.  Six  volumes. 
Illustrated.  Fancy  cloth  and  colors.  Price  per  volume,  30 
cents. 

1.  Little  Merchant.  4.    Careless  Kate. 

2.  Proud  and  Lazy.  5.     Dolly  and  I. 

3.  Young  Voyagers.  6.     Robinson  Crusoe,  Jr. 

Flora  Lee  Library,  By  Oliver  Optic.  Six  volumes.  Illus- 
trated. Fancy  cloth  and  colors.  Price  per  volume,  30 
cents. 

1.  The  Picnic  Party.  4.    Christmas  Gift. 

2.  The  Gold  Thimble.  5.     Uncle  Ben. 

3.  The  Do-Somethings.  6.     Birthday  Party. 

These  are  bright  short  stories  for  younger  children  who  are  unable  to  com- 
prehend the  Starry  Flag  Series  or  the  Army  and  Navv  Series.  But  they 
all  display  the  author's  talent  for  pleasing  and  interesting  the  little  folks.  They 
are  all  fresh  and  original,  preaching  no  sermons,  but  inculcating  good  lessons. 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


LEE  AND  SHEPARD'S  ILLUSTRATED   JUVENILES     yg 


J.   T.    TROWBRIDGE'S   BOOKS 


lie  Fortunes  of  Toby  Trafford.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge. 

Illustrated.     $1.25. 

"If  to  make  children's  stories  as  true  to  nature  as  the  stories  which  the 
masters  of  fiction  write  for  children  of  a  larger  growth  be  an  uncommon 
achievement,  and  one  that  is  worthy  of  wide  recognition,  that  recognition 
should  be  given  to  Mr.  J.  T.  Tkowbkidgk  for  his  many  achievements  in  this 
difficult  walk  of  literary  art.  Mr.  TKOWBKiDGii  has  a  good  perception  of  char- 
acter, which  he  draws  with  skill;  he  has  abundance  of  invention,  which  he 
never  abuses;  and  he  has,  what  so  manv  American  writers  have  not,  an  easy, 
graceful  style,  which  can  be  humorous,  or  pathetic,  or  poetic."  —  R.  H.  Stoddard 
in  New  York  Mail. 


THE   START  IN  LIFE   SERIES.    4  volumes. 

A  Start   in  Life :  A  Story  of  the  Genesee  Country.     Bj 
J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 

In  this  story  the  author  recounts  the  hardships  of  a  young  lad  in  his  first 
endeavor  to  start  out  for  himself.  It  is  a  tale  that  is  full  of  enthusiasm  and 
budding  hopes.  The  writer  shows  how  hard  the  youths  of  a  century  ago  were 
compelled  to  work.  This  he  does  in  an  entertaining  wav,  mingling  fun  and 
adventures  with  their  daily  labors.  The  hero  is  a  striking  example  of  the 
honest  boy,  who  is  not  too  lazy  to  work,  nor  too  dull  to  thoroughly  appreciate 
a  joke. 

Biding- His  Time.     By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 

*'  It  is  full  of  spirit  and  adventure,  and  presents  a  plucky  hero  who  was  willing 
to  *  bide  his  time,'  no  matter  how  great  the  expectations  that  he  indulged  in 
from  his  uncle's  vast  wealth,  which  he  did  not  in  the  least  covet.  .  .  .  He  was 
left  a  poor  orphan  in  Ohio  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  soon  after  heard  of  a 
rich  uncle,  who  lived  near  Boston.  He  sets  off  on  the  long  journey  to  Boston, 
finds  his  uncle,  an  eccentric  old  man,  is  hospitably  received  by  him,  but  seeks 
employment  in  a  humble  way,  and  proves  that  he  is  a  persevering  and  plucky 
young  man."  —  Boston  Home  Journal. 

The  Kelp  Gatherers:   A  Story  of   the  Maine  Coast.     Bj 
J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 

This  book  is  full  of  interesting  information  upon  the  plant  life  of  the  sea- 
shore, and  the  life  of  marine  animals;  but  it  is  also  a  bright  and  readable 
storj,  with  all  the  hints  of  character  and  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life,  in 
depicting  which  the  author  is  an  acknowledged  master. 

The     Scarlet    Taiiagrer,     and    Other    Bipeds.     Bj   J.    T. 
Trowbridge.     Illustrated.     $1.00. 

Every  new  story  which  Mr.  Trowbridge  begins  is  followed  through  succes- 
sive chapters  by  thousands  who  have  read  and  re-read  manv  times  his  preceding 
tales.  One  of  his  greatest  charms  is  his  absolute  truthfulness.  He  does  not 
depict  little  saints,  or  incorrigible  rascals,  but  just  boyx.  This  same  fidelity  to 
nature  is  seen  in  his  latest  book,  "The  Scarlet  Tanager,  and  Other  Bipeds." 
There  is  enough  adventure  in  this  tale  to  commend  it  to  the  liveliest  reader, 
and  all  the  lessons  it  teaches  are  wholesome. 

LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


40  J.  T.  TROWBRIDGE'S  BOOKS 


?! 


THE  TIDE-MILL   STORIES.    6  volumes. 

Phil  and  His  Friends.     By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated. 

$1.25. 

The  hero  is  the  son  of  a  man  who  from  drink  got  into  debt,  and,  after  having 
riven  a  paper  to  a  creditor  authorizing  him  to  keep  the  son  as  a  security  for 
lis  chiim,  ran  away,  leaving  poor  Phil  a  bond  slave.     The  story  involves  a 

great  many  unexpected  incidents,  some  of  which  are  painful,  and  some  coniic. 

Phil  manfully  works  for  a  year,  cancelling  his  father's  debt,  and  then  escapes. 

The  characters  are  strongly  drawn,  and  the  story  is  absorbingly  interesting. 

The  Tinliham  Brothers*  Tide-Mill.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridgk. 

Illustrated.     $1.25. 

"  The  Tinkham  Brothers  "  were  the  devoted  sons  of  an  invalid  mother.  The 
story  tells  how  they  purchased  a  tide-mill,  which  afterwards,  by  the  ill-will  and 
obstinacy  of  neighbors,  became  a  source  of  much  trouble  to  them.  It  tells  also 
how,  by  discretion  and  the  exercise  of  a  peaceable  spirit,  they  at  last  overcame 
all  difficulties. 

"  Mr.  Trowbridge's  humor,  his  fidelity  to  nature,  and  story-telling  power 
lose  nothing  with  years;  and  he  stands  at  the  head  of  those  who  are  furnishing 
a  literature  for  the  young,  clean  and  sweet  in  tone,  and  always  of  interest  and 
value." —  T/ie  Continent. 

The   Satin-wood  Box.     By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated. 
$1.25. 

•' Mr.  Trowbridge  has  always  a  purpose  in  his  writings,  and  this  time  he 
has  undertaken  to  show  how  very  near  an  innocent  boy  can  come  to  the  guilty 
edge  and  yet  be  able  by  fortunate  circumstances  to  rid  himself  of  all  suspicion 
of  evil.  There  is  something  winsome  about  the  hero;  but  he  has  a  singular 
way  of  falling  into  bad  luck,  although  the  careful  reader  will  never  feel  the 
least  disposed  to  doubt  his  honesty.  ...  It  is  the  pain  and  perplexity  which 
impart  to  the  story  its  intense  interest."  —  Syracuse  Standard. 

The  Liittle  Master.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

This  is  the  story  of  a  schoolmaster,  his  trials,  disappointments,  and  final 
victory.  It  will  recall  to  many  a  man  his  experience  in  teaching  pupils,  and 
in  managing  their  opinionated  and  self-willed  parents.  The  story  has  the 
charm  which  is  always  found  in  Mr.  Trowbridge's  works. 

"  Many  a  teacher  could  profit  by  reading  of  this  plucky  little  schoolmaster." 
—  yournal  of  Education. 

His  One  Fault.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

"As  for  the  hero  of  this  story,  •  His  One  Fault' was  absent-mindedness.  He 
forgot  to  lock  his  uncle's  stable  door,  and  the  horse  was  stolen.  In  seeking  to 
recover  the  stolen  horse,  he  unintentionally  stole  another.  In  trying  to  restore 
the  wrong  horse  to  his  rightful  owner,  he  was  himself  arrested.  After  no  end 
of  comic  and  dolorous  adventures,  he  surmounted  all  his  misfortunes  by  down- 
right pluck  and  genuine  good  feeling.  It  is  a  noble  contribution  to  juvenile 
literature."  —  Woman'' s  Journal. 

Peter  Budstone.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

"  Trowbridge's  other  books  have  been  admirable  and  deservedly  popular, 
but  this  one,  in  our  opinion,  is  the  best  yet.  It  is  a  story  at  once  spirited  and 
touching,  with  a  certain  dramatic  and  artistic  quality  that  appeals  to  the  literary 
sense  as  well  as  to  the  story-loving  appetite.  In  it  Mr.  Trowbridge  has  not 
lectured  or  moralized  or  remonstrated;  he  has  simply  shown  boys  what  they 
are  doing  when  they  contemplate  hazing.  By  a  good  artistic  impulse  we  are 
not  shown  the  hazing  at  all;  when  the  story  begins,  the  hazing  is  already  over, 
and  we  are  introduced  immediately  to  the  results.  It  is  an  artistic  touch  also 
that  the  boy  injured  is  not  hurt  because  he  is  a  fellow  of  delicate  nerves,  but  be- 
cause of  his  very  strength,  and  the  power  with  which  he  resisted  until  overcome 
by  numbers,  and  subjected  to  treatment  which  left  him  insane.  His  insanity 
takes  the  form  of  harmless  delusion,  and  the  absurdity  of  his  ways  and  talk 
enables  the  author  to  lighten  the  sombreness  without  weakening  the  moral,  in 
a  way  that  ought  to  win  all  boys  to  his  side."  —  The  Critic. 

LEE  AND  8HEPARD,  BOSTON,  SEND  THEIR  COMPLETE  CATALOGUE  FREE. 


J.  T.  TROWBRIDGE'S  BOOKS  41 


THE   SII.VER  MEDAL   STORIES.    6  volumes. 

The  Silver  Medal,  and   Other   Stories.      By  J.   T.   Trow- 
bridge.    Illustrated.     $1.25. 

There  were  some  schoolboys  who  had  turned  housebreakers,  and  among  their 
plunder  was  a  silver  medal  that  had  been  given  to  one  John  Harrison  by  the 
Humane  Society  for  rescuing  from  drowning  a  certain  Benton  Barry.  Now 
Benton  Barry  was  one  of  the  wretched  housebreakers.  This  is  the  summary 
of  the  opening  chapter.  The  story  is  intensely  intci-esting  in  its  serious  as 
well  as  its  humorous  parts. 

His  Own  Master.     By].  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

'*  This  is  a  book  after  the  typical  boy's  own  heart.  Its  hero  is  a  plucky  young 
fellow,  who,  seeing  no  chance  for  himself  at  home,  determines  to  make  his  own 
way  in  the  world.  .  .  .  He  sets  out  accordingly,  trudges  to  the  far  West,  and 
finds  the  road  to  fortune  an  unpleasantly  rough  one." — Philadelphia  hiquirer. 

"  We  class  this  as  one  of  the  best  stories  for  boys  we  ever  read.  The  tone  is 
perfectly  healthy,  and  the  interest  is  kept  up  to  the  end."  —  Boston  Home 
yournal. 

Bound  in  Honor.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

This  story  is  of  a  lad,  who,  though  not  guilty  of  any  bad  action,  had  been  an 
eye-witness  of  the  conduct  of  his  comrades,  and  felt  '*  Bound  in  Honor"  not 
to  tell. 

"  The  glimpses  we  get  of  New  England  character  are  free  from  any  distor- 
tion, and  their  humorous  phases  are  always  entertaining.  Mr.  Trowbridge's 
brilliant  descriptive  faculty  is  shown  to  great  advantage  in  the  opening  chapter 
of  the  book  by  a  vivid  picture  of  a  village  fire,  and  is  manifested  elsewhere  with 
equally  telling  effect."  —  Boston  Courier. 

The  Pocket  Kifle.    By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.    Illustrated.    $1.25. 

"A  boy's  story  which  will  be  read  with  avidity,  as  it  ought  to  be,  it  is  so 
brightly  and  frankly  written,  and  with  such  evident  knowledge  of  the  tempera- 
ments and  habits,  the  friendships  and  enmities  of  schoolboys."  —  New  York 
Mail. 

"This  is  a  capital  story  for  boys.  Trowbridge  never  tells  a  story  poorly. 
It  teaches  honesty,  integrity,  and  friendship,  and  how  best  they  can  be  pro- 
moted. It  shows  the  danger  of  hasty  judgment  and  circumstantial  evidence; 
that  right-doing  pays,  and  dishonesty  never."—  Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

The  Jolly  Rover.     By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illustrated.     $1.25. 

"  This  book  will  help  to  neutralize  the  ill  effects  of  any  poison  which  children 
may  have  swallowed  in  the  way  of  sham -adventurous  stories  and  wildly  fictitious 
tales.  'The  Jolly  Rover'  runs  away  from  home,  and  meets  life  as  it  is,  till  he 
is  glad  enough  to  seek  again  his  father's  house.  Mr.  Trowbridge  has  the 
power  of  making  an  instructive  story  absorbing  in  its  interest,  and  of  covering 
a  moral  so  that  it  is  easy  to  take."—  Christian  Intellig-encer. 

Young"  Joe,  and  Other  Boys.     By  J.  T.  Trowbridge.     Illus- 
trated.    $1.25. 

"  Young  Joe,"  who  lived  at  Bass  Cove,  where  he  shot  wild  ducks,  took  some 
to  town  for  sale,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  a  portly  gentleman  fond  of  shoot- 
ing. This  gentleman  went  duck  shooting  with  Joe,  and  their  adventures  were 
more  amusing  to  the  boy  than  to  the  amateur  sportsman. 

There  are  thirteen  other  short  stories  in  the  book  which  will  be  sure  to  please 
the  young  folks.  

The  Vagrabonds:    An  Illustrated   Poem.     By  J.  T.  Trow- 
bridge.    Cloth.     $1.50. 

"  The  Vagabonds  "  are  a  strolling  fiddler  and  his  dog.  The  fiddler  has  been 
ruined  by  drink,  and  his  monologue  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic  and  effective 
pieces  in  our  literature. 

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